Prewar Assessments of Iraq’s Possession of WMD and its Affiliation with Al-Qaeda and How They Compare with Post-War Findings
Date
2009-09-29T13:15:09Z
Authors
Badri, Safanah
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Abstract
Since the turn of the millennium the United States has waged war on two eastern fronts. The US’s relationship with Iraq has been rocky since the Ba’ath Party assumed power in the 1960s. The US supplied Saddam Hussein with money in weapons to help support a war against Islamic Iran, a perceived threat to both the US and Iraq. After Saddam fought Iran to a standstill, U.S and Iraqi relations began to deteriorate. US and Iraqi ties were completely cut following Saddam’s invasion of oil rich Kuwait. George H. W. Bush, the president that supervised the American invasion of Iraq in 1990 refused to remove Saddam from power because he feared a dangerous power vacuum would allow fundamentalists to seize power in Iraq. After the invasion, Bush and his allies continued to distrust the intentions of Saddam Hussein. The election of George H.W. Bush’s son, George W. Bush renewed the US and Iraq rivalry. Shortly after Bush was elected to office, terrorists attacked the US and killed scores of Americans. George Bush assumed a policy of weeding out terrorism worldwide, and eliminating any foreign threats to US peace and security. The US launched an invasion of Afghanistan shortly after the attacks of 9/11. With suspicion looming, US officials began to stack evidence against Iraq exposing links to Al-Qaeda and aspirations to attain weapons of mass destruction. Weeks of deliberation led to the invasion of Iraq and subsequent removal of Saddam Hussein and his regime from power. The search for weapons of mass destruction and evidence tying Saddam Hussein to Al-Qaeda began. Six years since the start of the invasion, the US has not been able to unlock former Iraqi programs to build weapons of mass, or evidence linking Iraq to Al-Qaeda. Great contrasts exist between pre-war justification for the start of war, and post-war findings that may expose the correlation between Iraq, Al-Qaeda, and weapons of mass destruction. The realities created by the Iraq War may also play a role in shaping public opinion, and increasing international diplomacy to prevent future strife that may lead to death, destruction, and poverty.
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Al-Qaeda in Iraq, 2003 Iraq’s War, Weapons inspectors in Iraq, Fallacy of WMDs in Iraq, Saddam and terror, Media and WMDs in Iraq