The invasion of US armed forces to Iraq in 2003 has become one of the most controversial and criticized political decisions after the Second World War. The invasion was largely supported by the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland. The operation lasted for 21 days and led to the overthrow of the government led by Saddam Hussein and the beginning of full-scale Iraq War. Despite the negative reactions of the global community, numerous protests, and obvious violation of UN norms caused by the invasion, the United States of America started the war that devastated Iraq and caused numerous deaths of civilians. Though the US government justified the Invasion of Iraq by alleged reasons, the careful analysis of these reasons demonstrates that their trueness can be easily debunked and reveal the real causes of the operation. The analysis of the severe consequences of the invasion and the consequent war helps to understand that the initial goals proclaimed by American government were not achieved, and, instead, lead to severe humanitarian and social crisis in Iraq.
The Premises of the Invasion
It is necessary to analyze both official reasons for invasion proclaimed by the government of George Bush and real causes identified by most specialists studying the specifics of the operation. Therefore, the exploration and refutation of the alleged reasons for the invasion and the analysis of its real causes will help to reveal the controversies between them and understand the specifics of the motivation of American government to start the full-scale war in Iraq.
Alleged Reasons for the Invasion
Possession of WMDs
Saddam Hussein’s possession of WMDs and the consequent huge threat to world peace and security of American nation it presents were proclaimed as the main causes of the decision to start the invasion of Iraq made by Bush’s administration. The results of United Nations weapons inspection revealing that Iraq was on the way to disarmament did not persuade American government, and it was proclaimed that passive waiting for disarmament could give Hussein more time to develop and use WMDs. Based on this claim, American armed forces together with several other national forces started invading Iraq and bombing strategic objects.
Despite the confidence in the presence of WMDs in Iraq expressed by the US, numerous commissions have showed that the claim about WMDs was not well-grounded (“U.S. military captures Saddam Hussein”, 2005). No WMDs were found by numerous weapons inspectors in Iraq after the war initiated by America was finished. In fact, the claim about WMDs appears to be a plain lie used by Bush’s administration to justify the unlawful invasion to the sovereign state. Such action helped the government to gain the public support, as the threat of WMDs being used against American citizens is frightful enough to persuade people that the armed forces need to combat the owners of the weapons. Such strategy was especially successful after the attacks on World Trade Center in 2001, as this event made millions of Americans feel insecure and worry for the national security (Jakobsen, 2012). Therefore, the existence of weapons presenting a serious danger to the well-being of American population was the necessary condition for making the invasion “politically feasible” (Betts, 2008, p. 598). Though Bush proclaimed that even if he had known Iraq did not have WMDs, he would have launched the invasion and war, such claim appears to be insincere, as without misinforming public about the weapons in Iraq, the government could not receive enough support and justify its actions to the citizens and world community.
The Need to End Dictatorship and Spread Democracy
Another rationale for starting the invasion of Iraq used by American government was the need to end dictatorship violating the human rights of Iraqis and spread democracy in the country (Boaduo, 2012). Bush’s administration proclaimed open aggression against the sovereign state an acceptable and even necessary form of combating the dictatorship causing suffering of people (Boaduo, 2012). The humanitarian goals of the invasion were used to justify the aggressive intrusion into the sovereign country. The American policy of spreading democracy all over the world persuaded millions of Americans that invasion of Iraq is a noble and equitable action.
Though certain violations of human rights by the regime of Saddam Hussein took place, Iraq could not be considered the country that had had the hugest level of such violations, as numerous countries faced much more severe problems and raised more concerns about the security of their populations. Besides, certain controversy in the actions of US administration can be identified, as it supported Iraq’s government in Iran-Iraq war during which Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers. That time, Unites States did not demonstrate much concern about the deliberate violation of human rights caused by Hussein’s actions. However, when the democratic and humanitarian values came in handy to proclaim the urgent need to overthrow Hussein’s government, American administration masterly used them for justifying its unlawful aggression against Iraq. The results of such actions include severe political and social crisis and huge death rates of civilians in Iraq, and it is obvious that the country have not become more democratic than it had been before the invasion of US army. The invasion of Iraq should not be recognized as a humanitarian intervention, as the US and its allies abused democratic ideals for self-serving purposes and did not bring a better life for Iraqis. In fact, American invasion destroyed the country’s stability and used humanitarian values to legitimize the interference in the affairs of the sovereign state (Visser, 2007).
Protection of US National Security
The urgent need to protect US National Security from the aggression of Iraq was proclaimed as another rationale for the invasion of the country. This claim was based on the assumption that Saddam Hussein was affiliated with terrorist organizations. Such rationale played an important role in ensuring public support for aggression against Iraq as the war on terrorism proclaimed by US government after the eleventh of September was considered a necessary step towards preventing similar tragic events. The largely promoted statement about the connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist network responsible for the attack on World Trade Center helped the invasion of Iraq to be accepted and justified by most citizens.
Protection of US National Security from terrorist attacks, in fact, has little in common with the invasion of Iraq. Moreover, the Pentagon-sponsored study aimed at analyzing nearly six hundred thousands of Iraqi documents has not found the evidence of the connection between Saddam and al-Qaida (Strobel, 2008). The mentioned study demonstrated that Saddam Hussein’s regime had not established “operational links” with al-Qaida, despite the misleading claims of American government (Strobel, 2008, par. 1). The study proved that Saddam Hussein had provided support for certain terrorist groups in the Middle East fighting against the enemies of his regime. Though the connection between Saddam’s regime and terrorism against Iraqi exiles and Shiite Muslims is clear, no evidence supports the notion that Iraqi government supported terrorism against the United States and was involved in organizing the terrorist attacks at World Trade Center.
Therefore, US administration had no well-grounded reasons to invade Iraq to protect the Unites States from terrorism, as Saddam took no actions towards putting a threat to US Security. Protection of national security was masterly used by US government to justify the unlawful aggression against Iraq but did not have an objective basis. Iraq posed little threat to the US and was not capable of threatening US national security, and this fact was well-known by Bush’s administration (Hinnebusch, 2007).
Actual Causes of the Invasion
As main official causes of US invasion of Iraq are easily debunked, it is important to understand the real causes of American aggression against Saddam Hussein’s regime. The analysis of Bush’s motives will help to reveal that the deception practiced by American government had little in common with the real causes of the invasion.
The pursuit of oil is considered the main cause of US invasion of Iraq by most specialists. Iraq has the world second largest oil’s reserves, and gaining control over them and excluding rivals in a “tightening oil market” were one of the main motives of US administration to decide start aggression against a sovereign state posing no threat to America (Hinnebusch, 2007, p. 212). The United States is one of the biggest consumers of oil, as its economy is largely dependent on oil imports (Boaduo, 2012). Besides, the limited reserves of oil and the growing demand for it in the international market forced the US and other developed countries to propose Oil and Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to open their fields to foreign investment (Boaduo, 2012). As the OPEC countries resisted such proposition, US had to search for alternative methods of ensuring constant access to the extensive amount of oil in the Middle East. Therefore, the main cause of US invasion of Iraq can be determined as gaining control over oil-producing regions.
The willing of US to gain power and establish world hegemony is another real cause of the aggression against Iraq. This cause is logically connected with the previously discussed one, as control over oil reserves in the Middle East region gives an opportunity to manipulate European and Asian countries heavily depend on oil import. Purely material interests of US administration were masked by promoting the belief that “Americans have a responsibility to change the world by making it more consistent with their values” among the population (Boaduo, 2012, p. 90). US’s global leadership was one of the main purposes of Bush’s administration starting an armed invasion of Iraq. Therefore, US’s striving for gaining global control over material resources and establishing world hegemony can be considered the initial cause of its aggression against Iraq.
Another real cause of the invasion of Iraq is related to the fact that the military industrial complex has a huge interest in war (Hinnebusch, 2007). The construction of an enemy is a necessary part of sustaining the effectiveness of military industry. The immense sums of money are circulating inside this industry, and certain groups of people gain numerous benefits from launching armed conflicts. Therefore, material profit from war and the need to provide the sustainability of the American armed forces can be regarded as important causes of US invasion of Iraq.
Consequences of the Invasion
Though the initiators of the invasion claimed that its goals were noble and aimed at bringing numerous benefits to both American society and Iraqi people, the results of the aggression are purely negative. Numerous deaths of civilians, destroyed healthcare of Iraq, and total dependence on the US are among the most important consequences of the invasion.
Human Cost
The invasion and consequent war resulted in thousands of deaths among both armed forces and civilians. According to surveys, nearly 5 thousands of soldiers belonging to coalition forces were killed in the period of 2003-2010 while the estimations of civilians’ violent deaths range from sixty to six hundred thousands of Iraqis that did not survive the conflict (Zeger & Johnson, 2007). Most deaths of Iraqi civilians were caused by disastrous bombings used by US-led forces to destroy the objects that had significant strategic value. However, the bombings aimed at destroying such objects, carried away lives of thousands of innocent people, including children and women, as such bombs often hit houses where civilians lived and caused severe injuries leading to fatal outcomes. Besides air attacks, skirmishes between the US and Iraqi soldiers caused numerous deaths among civilians. The huge number of deaths among civilians illustrates the devastating effect of the war. Though being proclaimed an operation aimed to protect Iraqi people from the aggressive dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and spread democracy, the invasion of Iraq spread terror and deaths of thousands of innocent people it was supposed to protect.
Humanitarian and Social Crisis
Besides numerous deaths, the invasion of Iraq forced many people to escape the country. Millions of citizens fled Iraq during the war campaign carried by US armed forces due to terrible conditions of life and the constant risk of being wounded or killed.
Besides, Iraq faced a severe humanitarian crisis due to millions of people wounded during the war and experiencing serious health and psychological problems. The big part of the population has witnessed violence, rapes, tortures, and deaths of relatives. Such situation has lead to increased rates of serious psychological problems among Iraqi population, including children. Numerous women became widows, and numerous children became orphans. Such situation caused severe humanitarian crises resulting in thousands of desperate people left without shelter and any source of income. Worsening of living conditions is directly related to increased rates of diseases and deaths.
Though the health system of Iraq had been well-developed and effective prior to the war, the invasion destroyed it and lead to the long-term crisis in the system delivering health services. After the war, child and maternal health indicators worsened, and the overall health index of the population decreased significantly (Rawaf et al., 2014). Such factors promoted by the war as poverty and lack of hygiene in medical institutions due to the elevated number of patients caused such diseases as cholera to emerge (Rawaf et al., 2014).
Dependence on the US
One of the consequences of US invasion of Iraq is related to establishing the strong dependence of the country on the United States. The severe humanitarian crisis caused by the war and consequent local conflicts have placed Iraq in the situation in which the country needs help from abroad to fix its problems and provide the relative sustainability of the economics. In such way, the United Stated has gained control over Iraqi political life and has an opportunity to manipulate the government of the country if needed. Therefore, besides gaining control over oil reservoirs, the United States has made Iraq dependent on its decisions and easy to be manipulated.
The analysis of the premises of US invasion of Iraq reveals that the real causes of the operation had purely materialistic nature. Though US administration proclaimed such rationales as the possession of WMDs, the threat to US national security, and the violation of human rights related to the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, none of these alleged reasons appeared to be truthful. It is obvious that Iraq did not possess WMDs and presented little danger to US national security. Besides, the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein did not have such a disastrous consequences that invasion of foreign armed forces was needed. In fact, the willing of the American government to take control over oil reservoirs and sustain its global leadership appears to be the real cause of the invasion. The consequences of the invasion that was proclaimed an operation with noble purposes of spreading democracy included thousands of deaths of civilians, social and humanitarian crisis, poverty, and spreading of diseases. Besides, Iraq became much more vulnerable to the decisions of the United States. US government started the invasion of Iraq for achieving its mercenary goals and masterly used deception for gaining public support for the actions that cannot be justified due to their unlawful nature and numerous deaths of innocent people they caused.
References
Betts, R. (2008). Two faces of intelligence failure: September 11 and Iraq’s missing WMD. Political Science Quarterly, 122(4), 585-606.
Boaduo, N. (2012). Invasion of Iraq: Introspective analysis of US long-term foreign policy in the Middle East. Journal of Political Studies, 19(2), 87-96.
Hinnebusch, R. (2007). The US invasion of Iraq: Explanations and Implications. Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies, 16(3), 209–228.
Jakobsen, T. G. (2012). Why did the United States invade Iraq in 2003? Web.
Rawaf, S., Hassounah, S., Dubois, E., Abdalrahman, B., Raheem, M., Jamil. H., & Majeed, A. (2014). Living conditions in Iraq: 10 years after the US-led invasion. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 107(5), 187–193.
Strobel, W. (2008). Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam and al-Qaida. Web.
U.S. military captures Saddam Hussein; Weapons inspector David Kay reports no WMD. Foreign Policy Bulletin, 15(2), 2-140.
Visser, B. (2007). Can the US-led invasion of Iraq be justified as humanitarian intervention? Social Alternatives, 26(1), 53-58.
Zeger, S., & Johnson, E. (2007). Estimating excess deaths in Iraq since the US–British-led invasion. Significance, 4(2), 54-59.