Introduction
Most Americans now agree with what the rest of the world has known all along, that the invasion of Iraq was not in the best interest of western-Arab relations and was unquestionably illegal as defined by the International Court of Justice and the UN, the two most preeminent legal bodies on the globe. The flawed justification that led to America entering a war with Ira has since been proven to be untrue. The result has been calamitous. Because of the occupation of Iraq, the international terrorist organization Al Qaeda has grown in number, increased attacks worldwide and has infiltrated the borders of Iraq. More importantly, more than 4000 U.S. soldiers and an untold thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens have been killed.
Cause for War
The invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003 was initiated and largely conducted by the United States in response to what it claimed was an attack on its soil by various agents operating from within these countries. These actions have been defended by the Bush administration as not only legal but morally necessary to protect U.S. citizens. Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden hoped the U.S. would timidly withdraw from the Middle East, but he appears to have been aware that an aggressive U.S. response to 9/11 was entirely possible. In that case, he had a Plan: Al-Qaeda hoped to draw the U.S. into a debilitating guerrilla war in Afghanistan and do to the U.S. military what they had earlier done to the Soviets. The U.S. cleverly outfoxed Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, using air power and local Afghan allies (the Northern Alliance) to destroy the Taliban without many American boots on the ground. However, the Bush administration then went on to invade Iraq for reasons still unclear, where Americans faced the kind of wearing guerrilla war they had avoided in Afghanistan (O’Brien, 2005).
At best, the information provided to Bush was faulty and at worst, his justification for war was based purely on fabrications. The alleged link between the terrorist group Al Qaeda and Iraq was referenced before the war and became the primary excuse of the Bush administration following the lack of weapons evidence. Contrary to these assertions of terrorist ties, then Secretary of State Powell stated in January of 2004, “I have not seen a smoking-gun, concrete evidence about the (terrorist) connection” (“Iraq After Saddam”, 2004).
Effect of War
The citizens of Iraq are suffering because of U.S. involvement in their country not only during this war but have been since the early ‘90’s. The U.S. backed embargo of Iraq in the ‘90’s was intended to persuade Saddam Hussein into conforming with international law but only acted to starve hundreds of thousands of children. Those many thousand Iraqi’s opposed to Hussein’s regime following the first gulf war believed President H.W. Bush’s promise that the U.S. would support a civil uprising but were slaughtered when that promise went unfulfilled. By all estimations, withdrawing from Iraq now would cause these beleaguered people even greater harm than has already been perpetrated by the U.S. over the past 15 years. The current war has claimed about a half-million civilian lives. (“No Safe Way”, 2007).
Conclusion
Cause
Bush chose to follow the advice of jaded, self serving legal opinion in spite of strong disagreement by the U.S. State Department which cautioned against disregarding U.N. and international laws as well as covenants of the Geneva Convention. The U.S. claimed to have possessed ‘clear and compelling evidence,’ that the State of Afghanistan was harboring terrorists, as did Iraq. Yet, if this is true, then why didn’t it divulge this evidence to the Security Council so as to have a legal right to invade? In President Bush’s handling of the war on terror, three facts stand out: Bush launched a sustained military action against an enemy that had not attacked the U.S., the rationale for the invasion of Iraq was not based on fighting terrorism and it has provided fresh examples of U.S. brutality for al-Qaeda recruiters.
Effect
The illegal war in Iraq has caused terrorist attacks to increase as well as the loss of many thousands of Iraqi and Allied lives and as a consequence and has cost the U.S. dearly as far as international respect is concerned. Additionally, this ‘war’ has monetary costs reaching into the hundreds of billions of dollars which has crippled the U.S. economy and will continue to for many years in the future. It has caused the U.S. national debt to skyrocket to more than eight trillion dollars at present, which will have to be paid instead of spending federal revenues on healthcare, welfare programs, education, defense systems, etc. The U.S. military is crippled as well, both literally and conceptually. It could not respond to a crisis of any size which potentially could result in a disastrous situation. As the war has progressed, the Bush administration has lost much confidence among the American public who now better understand what the rest of the world has known since Iraq was first invaded. Bush’s foreign policy is based on greed, was promoted by lies and has cost the U.S. worldwide respect that may never be recovered.
Works Cited
Ignatieff, Michael. Virtual War: Kosovo and Beyond. New York, N.Y.: Metropolitan Books. (2000).
“Iraq After Saddam: GIs Swoop Down On Tikrit Suspects Iraq.” CBS News. (2004). Web.
“No safe way for U.S. to leave Iraq, experts warn.” (2007). CNN. Web.
O’Brien, Kerry. (2005). “US ‘Misread Motivation’ of Suicide Bombers.” The 7:30 Report. Web.