The invasion of Iraq that took place as per from March 20th 2003 to May 2003 led by United States, Britain, Australia and Poland had the objectives of disarming the Iraq of weapons of mass destruction that were immediate threat to U.S. national security, end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, the need to promote democracy in the middle east and finally Saddam Hussein’s despotic rule and human rights abuses. (Stephen, 2006)
Challenges on the views of invasion
These views on invasion had challenges in that: the Iraqis could put up stiff resistance and conduct house-to-house fighting in Baghdad, thereby producing significant U.S. casualties, which in turn, will force the U.S. to use their heavy air and missile strikes on populated areas, resulting in high civilian casualties, Iraqis can use their chemical and biological weapons in a final spasm of self destruction, producing untold civilian and combatant casualties, the surviving Iraqis will turn against their American liberators, resulting in constant snipping and acts of terrorism. The Kurds and shiitakes and Sunnis will fight over the spoils of war, producing wide spread carnage and trapping U.S. forces in the middle. American troop will remain in Iraq for a generation, or more, producing hatred and resistance throughout the Muslim world and hence increase level of terrorism elsewhere. (Michael, 2005)
Threat by Iraq
Iraq’s biological capability presented the greatest threat i.e. it had became self-sufficient in biological weaponry; it possessed the strains, growth media and infrastructure that were necessary to build a biological arsenal. (Stephen, 2006) Iraq also retained stocks of chemical agent from the Gulf War and was known to have all the elements of a workable nuclear weapon except the fissile material desired to fuel it. Iraq’s sanctioned program for developing short-range missiles would have enabled the building of longer-range missiles, and Iraq was showing an interest in cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, apparently to deliver chemical or biological payloads.
Failure of intelligent
The justification for launching the Iraq War on nuclear and biological, weapons, and purported ties to al-Qaeda lacked evidences. Scott Ritter UN weapons inspector proved that, inspections eliminated the weapons program; evidence of their reconstitution would “have been eminently noticeable by intelligence service. Joseph C. Wilson, an American diplomat investigated claims that Iraq had sought uranium for nuclear weapons in Niger but the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee found that Wilson’s report, rather than debunking intelligence about supposed uranium sales to Iraq, bolstered the case for most intelligence analysts. Wilson also argued that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which was disapproved by the UN weapon inspector. Similarly, supposedly links between Iraq and al-Qaeda were discredited by the U.S. Senator Carl Levin report, which was later supported by report from the Defense Department’s inspector general. These reports further alleged that Bush Administration officials, particularly former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith, manipulated evidence to support relations between al-Qaeda and Iraq. (Michael, 2005)
The American could not have taken chances bearing in mind the global expansion of terrorism in the approach to 9/11, the wrong weapons in the wrong hands that threatens people globally and the undemocratic government under Saddam Hussein.
The US should use its military and power to resolve a conflict when there is a build up of a sponsored terrorist group that would savage the American economy by disrupting trade and partially destroy the region’s industry hence threatening the security of America that is when there is an overriding threat to serve as the focus for American national strategy.
The conditions that poses threat and warrant the military intervention are: to protect US against direct attacks, its allies as well as its populace; to protect key economic interests; to conserve, defend and promote democracy; to maintain U.S. reliability; to counter aggression; to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, international crime, and drug trafficking and for humanitarian purposes. (Stephen, 2006)
Work Cited Source
Michael G. Cobra II, the Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq; chief military correspondent for the New York Times, 2005.
Stephen j. Globalization and Empire: The U.S. Invasion of Iraq, Free Markets, and the Twilight of Democracy. Alabama: University Alabama Press, 2006.
The US Invasion of Iraq: The Military Side of Globalization. Web.