Against the Iraq War

Ly Quoc Binh

ABSTRACT

The Iraq War has been going on for over six years. Since it began in 2003, many discussions not for but against the war has been brought up. This project will address to the readers a brief view why the majority of people around the world are opposing the Iraq war. By researching through the internet, finding others reliable and relevant research, the author has mentioned clearly all the reasons that the Bush Administration gave out, then has proved that those reasons are not the truth and pointed out the real reason. Not because of the terrorist or the weapons of mass destructive, oil is the real reason for attacking Iraq. The outcome of this project is to somehow stop the Iraq War.

Against the Iraq War

Ly Quoc Binh

1. Introduction

Iraq is one of the countries in the Middle East, bounded on the East by Iran, on the North by Turkey, on the West by Syria and Jordan, and on the South by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. At this point of time when the report is written, Iraq is now still a war zone with the invasion of the United States and terrorist attack. During the Presidency of Suddam Hussein, Iraq is believed to have used, possessed and developed weapon of mass destruction. In 1990 to 1991, the United Nations has made a lot of efforts to locate and destroyed a huge amount of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Nevertheless, it was not enough for the United States, they believed that Saddam Hussein was still hiding large stockpiles weapon of mass destruction. Therefore, in 2002 President Bush announced that the U.S was going to attack Iraq. The Iraq War have been going on for over 6 years since the year 2003, many have died, the responsible ones and the innocent ones. However, should the United States and other allies invade Iraq from the first place? Did the former President of the United States, George Washington Bush, made a right decision? Those are the kind of question that many politicians and people around the world are still looking for answer.

2. Body

Against the Iraq War

Ly Quoc Binh

2.1.

Terrorism The Propaganda Campaign

Weapon of mass destruction is not the only reason when since the attacks of September 11th, 2001 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon which killed over 300 people from many nations; the Bush Government was blaming Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda, the world number one terrorist, and had called for a war on terrorism. In the summer of 2002, the American people were persuaded that it was really the Iraq and also Suddam Hussein that was behind these attacks. About 50 per cent of the population now believes that Iraq was responsible for the attack on the World Trade Centre. This has happened since September 2002. In fact, after the September 11 attack, the figure was about 3 per cent. Government-media propaganda has managed to raise that to about 50 per cent. Now if people genuinely believe that Iraq has carried out major terrorist attacks against the United States and is planning to do so again, well, in that case people will support the war (Noam Chomsky, 2003). In mid 2003, the propaganda campaign was so successful that almost three quarters of Americans people believed that Suddam Hussein was behind the terrorist attacks. However, Bush then admitted that there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the September 11th. He himself has said We have no evidence that Suddam Hussein was involved with the 11 September attacks (Bush rejects Saddam 9/11 link, 2003) 2.2. Weapons of mass destruction and Terrorism were just a lie.

Nevertheless, the Bush Government still kept their rationale for the Iraq invasion and continued to invade despite the fact that it was clear to all that was just a lie. After the regime of Saddam Hussein was overthrown, and US forces were able to inspect any place in Iraq they wished to, where were these "weapons of mass destruction"? None were found. That's because by November 2002 there weren't any, as former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter had already
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Against the Iraq War

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told the U.N. Security Council. The US rationale was a fiction, as was eventually revealed (The Iraq War, 2003). It is now a fact that, the rationale for the invasion of Iraq that formal President Bush gave out that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was going to use it against Iraq and Suddam Hussein has a connection with the Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has not been supported by what has happened so far. 2.3. Gaining Iraqs oilfields control.

According to some politicians, gaining control of Iraqs oilfields is the main reason for the US invasion of Iraq. The US then could keep the oil underground and drive up the oil prices. Therefore, US military bases can be established in Iraq to dominate Middle East and afterward control all countries dependent on oil. In addition, at that time, Iraq had begun to accept payment in euros for its oil, opening the way for all major oil producers to do this. Then the euro would probably become the worlds reserve currency, not the US dollar. This would have a major negative impact on the US economy, such as the collapse of the economy and would probably reduce its ability to pour money into its weapons program (The Iraq War, 2003). However, United States can refuse payment in euros if the gain the control of Iraq and could maintain the dollar as the reserve currency. It is clearly that the invasion of Iraq is one of the geopolitical strategies of the Bush administration for many years, which would helps United States to gain the domination of the worlds economic resources. This plan was made public in the National Security Strategy of the United States of America which was published in September 2002. The message of this document, stripped of its cynical euphemisms and calculated evasions, is unmistakably clear: The United States

Against the Iraq War

Ly Quoc Binh

government asserts the right to bomb invades and destroys whatever country it chooses. It refuses to respect as a matter of international law the sovereignty of any other country, and reserves the right to get rid of any regime, in any part of the world, that is, appears to be, or might someday become, hostile to what the United States considers to be its vital interests. Its threats are directed, in the short term, against so-called "failed states" that is, former colonies and impoverished Third World countries ravaged by the predatory policies of imperialism. But larger competitors of the United States, whom the document refers to, in a revival of pre-World War II imperialist jargon, as "Great Powers," are by no means out of the gun sights of the Bush administration. The wars against small and defenseless states that the United States is now preparing first of all against Iraq will prove to be the preparation for military onslaughts against more formidable targets (David North, 2002). 2.4. War Cost.

In another view to against the Iraq War is the cost of its. These include mostly the casualties and the money that the United States has to spend on war each year. The United States of America has spent up to hundreds billions of dollars in the Iraq War, the majority of these money comes from taxpayers funds. According to Deborah Whites article Iraq War Facts, the statistic is amazingly surprised: 800 billion dollars of US taxpayers fund spent or approved for spending

through mid-2009. Each month, US spend an average of 12 billion dollars in Iraq, which can be count as 5 thousand dollars per second in 2008. Another payment that the US government has to pay is the cost of deploying for each one US soldier going to war in a year; this number is 390,000 dollars per year (Deborah White, 2009). As there are a total of 130 thousand US soldiers fighting in Iraq, approximately 5 billion dollars is the number the US have to pay each year for all the soldiers including training, equipments, weapons to go to war. It seems like the US are

Against the Iraq War

Ly Quoc Binh

wasting hundreds billion dollars because for what have been still going on in Iraq, terrorist attack and suicide bombing. In Deborah Whites articles, she also mentioned about the US casualties. Among 130,000 soldiers sent to Iraq, 4,325 US soldier died, 98 percent of those are male, 54 percent were under 25 years old and 72 percent were from the US Army. The deaths of America soldiers are not the only deaths but also innocent people of both USA and Iraq, reporter, journalist and civilians are killed in US bombing, strikes, murder from kidnapping and from terrorist attack. In addition, 31,430 soldiers (almost a quarter of all the soldiers) left the war zone with major wound. Most of them have serious brain and spinal injuries. US soldiers returning home has some trouble with their mental. They couldnt stop thinking about what had happened back in Iraq. According to Deborah, 30 percent US soldiers develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home. Not having accomplished the mission, now the soldiers are returning home alive but mentally and physically wounded. 2.5. Ending the Iraq War

Since Barrack Obama won the election and became the President of the United States of America, the situation in Iraq seems to get better. President Obama has given out a campaign promise: Ending the Iraq War. This campaign includes: Bringing US Troops Home, Pressing Iraqs Leaders to Reconcile, An Aggressive Diplomatic Effort and Humanitarian Initiative. This campaign is once again mentioned briefly by Deborah White. Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months. Obama will make it clear that the US will not build any permanent bases in Iraq. He will keep some troops in Iraq to protect US embassy

Against the Iraq War

Ly Quoc Binh

and diplomats; if al Qaeda attempts to build a base within Iraq, he will keep troops in Iraq or elsewhere in the region to carry out targeted strikes on Al Qaeda (Deborah White, 2009). Barrack Obama aim to secure Iraqs borders, isolated Al Qaeda and provide financial support for the reconstruction of Iraq. He also gives out the responsibility of America to confront Iraqs crisis, providing at least 2 billion dollars to support Iraqi refugees and ensure for the Iraqis inside their own country can find a safe-haven. 2.6. Iraq War An unnecessary war.

Starting an unnecessary war, a war that is contrary to international law and most important is a war without international support, obviously will damage the security of US citizens. Nevertheless, the U.S has lost it credibility around the world, not having trust and follows the world opinions, and has many financial problems in rebuilding Iraq because of its haste to war. In the first opinion of the United Nations and NATO as well as other nations and groups of nations, they all agreed that Iraq must not allowed and must be forbidden to have and used weapons of mass destruction. These group of nations includes the U.S and Great Britain, however, the two countries disagreed with the U.N about what step should be done to make sure Iraq has no possession of such weapons. The U.N. did not support a war with Iraq because most nations, hearing the U.S. arguments, did not find the arguments credible. After winning the war, the U.S. has insisted on controlling Iraqi oil and political processes. It therefore appears to other countries in the world that the war was about the U.S. gaining control over Iraq's oil and political processes rather than about liberating the people of Iraq (Iraq and War A Comparison of Views, n.d).

Against the Iraq War

Ly Quoc Binh

3. Conclusion. To sum up, the two main arguments that the formal president of the United States of America George Washington Bush gave out on the Iraq War are the possession of Iraq on weapon of mass destruction and the link between Suddam Hussein (whom has been executed) and the leader of Al Qaeda Osama bin Laden (whom is also believed to have killed by an bombing attack by the US army). None of the two reasons have been proved to be right and surely will not be right as there are no such things. Bush administration knows what is wrong and what is right, and they
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Against the Iraq War

Ly Quoc Binh

know that attacking Iraq and win the war US will definitely gain the control of profit gain from the sale of Iraqi oil.

References List

Bush rejects Saddam 9/11 link. (2003, September 18). Retrieved July 22, 2009, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3118262.stm. David, N. (2002, October 04). The War against Iraq and Americas Drive for World Domination. Retrieved on July 23, 2009, from http://www.serendipity.li/wot/north01.htm.

Against the Iraq War

Ly Quoc Binh

Deborah, W. (2009, July 27). Iraq War Facts, Results and Statistics at July 8, 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2009, from http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm. Deborah, W. (2009, June 13). Obama Campaign Promise: Ending the Iraq War. Retrieved July 28, 2009, from http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/ObamaIrqWr.htm. Iraq and War A Comparison of Views (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2009, from http://www.awesomelibrary.org/Iraq-War.html. Noam, C. (2003, April 02). Iraq is a trial run. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/10661. The Iraq War (2003, March 26). Retrieved July 23, 2009, from http://www.serendipity.li/iraqwar.htm#local.

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