Invading Iraq was unjustified because hundreds of thousands of innocent people have perished in this unjust war. Moreover, military force should only be used in self defense to protect our county. Iraq is a poor third world nation with no navy or air force. Iraq had no chance in defending themselves against a nation with a great and powerful military. Also, the United States government has falsely led us to believe that Iraq was a threat to the United States. After 9/11, there was much speculation that Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda were cooperating; even though, no evidence has yet to be found tying them together. Americans were told lies after lies about the true reasons that we are in Iraq. America began this war for all the wrong reasons. Consequently, if America truly wanted to spread democracy to the Iraqi people, America should have done it without force and destructive measures. Not only was going to war a mistake, but it was also a mistake to lie and produce fear in the minds of innocent Americans.
President George W. Bush and his officials used fear as a strategy to promote support for the invasion of Iraq. For instance, President Bush deliberately made an effort to scare the American population during his speech to the United Nations in September of 2002. During that speech, President Bush declared that Saddam Hussein was a dangerous threat to the United States and was capable of producing weapons of mass destruction. This statement, declaring that Saddam Hussein is capable of using weapons of mass destruction, was President Bush’s clear intention to instill fear into the whole population. However, weapon inspectors found no evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Despite this fact, President Bush still continued to insist that Iraq was a major threat to the United States. Commenting on the fact that President Bush has told incessant lies to the American people, Michael Raitner holds in his book Against War with Iraq: an Anti-War Primer that “The administration has presented a large amount of confusing information, but has not given any persuasive factual basis justifying a war” (Ratiner) meaning that there was never a real reason to go to war in the first place. By giving the American people false information, the administration has deliberately lied to the American people. The bottom line: President Bush lied to the whole population to encourage Americans to believe that the Iraq war was needed in order to ensure America’s safety.
*Link to speech*: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020912-1.html
However, an argument could be made that Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, posed a terrorist threat to the United States. In Thomas Cushman’s book, A Matter of Principle: Humanitarian Arguments for War in Iraq, he describes how Saddam was a dangerous threat to America and other nations:
Saddam Hussein was a brutal tyrant, a gross violator of human rights, a torturer, a mass murderer, a force of global instability and terror. For more than three decades, his crimes against humanity, wars of aggression, support of international terrorism, and volatility as a destabilizing force were tolerated, aided, and abetted by world powers and the international community for the sake of political expediency, stability, and material interests. ( 98)
Therefore, Iraq had used terrorism on its own people and supported terrorism in the past. Furthermore, although there were no weapons of mass destruction found, Iraq had collected and stored biological and chemical weapons in past years. Since Saddam Hussein had already used harmful weapons on his own innocent people, Hussein could have been capable of using those weapons on others. For instance, Iraq demonstrated their ability to be a threat by attacking the Kurds. Also, Iraq has previously led invasions against Iran and Kuwait. In addition, by bombing Israel and suppressing the Kurdish people during the 1980s, Iraq has demonstrated a regime that would continuously threaten world peace and human rights.
However, America did not have the justification to declare war against Iraq since a great part of the United States declaring war on Iraq had to do with issues of weapons of mass destruction and the alleged Hussein and Al Qaeda’s connections. Weapon inspectors, after a very thorough search, have found no evidence of Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction. During 1988, although the United States was fully aware that Iraq had used chemical weapons against the Kurds, the United States continued to increase aid to Iraq. The United States has also given the Iraq regime helicopters, which they used during chemical attacks, and provided Iraq with information to assist them with technology development. Since the United States was not concerned with Iraq’s misdoings a couple of decades ago; there is no reason that we should now be concerned. Also, there is still no valid evidence pointing to Saddam Hussein’s and Al Qaeda’s relationship. Consequently, Iraq has done nothing to base going to war over. Even though Saddam Hussein has continuously threatened world peace and human rights, it is not the United States of America’s job to act as the world police. It is not our responsibility to correct the wrong doings of others.
Links
*The war in Iraq is not a Humanitarian Intervention*
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0126-07.htm
*Human rights world report*
http://hrw.org/wr2k4/3.htm#_Toc58744952
Links
*The war in Iraq is not a Humanitarian Intervention*
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0126-07.htm
*Human rights world report*
http://hrw.org/wr2k4/3.htm#_Toc58744952
