The War in Iraq: A Just War or Something Else?

The war in Iraq, was it meant to be an actual war or was it for political power or even something else? Did President Bush actually go to Iraq to fight terrorism or was it to clean up what his father hadn't completed? After September 11, 2001 United States is an extreme turmoil. The thought that terrorists from other countries could make their way to the United States and destroy national landmarks was incomprehensible. Once the US was attacked on their own soil, they realize what had to be done. At the time going to war in Iraq was just that after the war had drug on for many years and the president lying about when we actually be withdrawing from there the American people decided there had to be a change. So is decided in the year 2008 that the new president was to be elected and with that the American people expected change. Once President Obama was sworn into office, the American people thought the immediate problem of the war in Iraq would be dealt with. The economy had other ideas, so the war in Iraq took a backseat to other pressing issues. The war in Iraq was long forgotten but the troops there were still fighting. No one really forgot about the war in Iraq, but it no longer received any news coverage. The only thing you ever heard about Iraq was bombs going off and more of our troops dying. For most of the American people this was a problem, so they pressed the president for a resolution to the war that should've ended years ago. Even after this there was no set date for withdrawal time, the President just said it would be "soon." But finally after many diplomatic meetings with the leaders of Iraq, a resolution was in sight. In a press conference the president stated that he could almost guarantee all combat missions in Iraq would be over by

August 31, 2010. But as far as troop withdrawals go, there was much to be done, for as of November 29, 2011 there are still American troops in Iraq. At the beginning of the war in Iraq most Americans agree that it was a necessary conflict, but as the war progressed for years and years Americans began to change their minds. They also began to wonder if we were still in Iraq actually for the war for freedom or was it a presidential hidden agenda to gain a military installation in that part of the country, for oil, or maybe even to stimulate the economy. The only problem with that theory is even with the change of the presidency the war in Iraq continued. There have been many conspiracy theories on why America is still fighting a war even though there are many issues to deal with in her own country. As of now none of these theories have proven likely. The troops coming home have no idea even why they were there in the first place because we saw a threat, went after it, eliminated it, and then continued fighting. Once the threat was eliminated, there was no sense in being there. When the news reporters stated that the main leader of Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization that attacked the United States on 9/11, had been found and killed the war should have stopped there immediately. Instead drug on and caused many innocent Americans to lose their lives for a senseless war that was going nowhere. The war in Afghanistan is a completely different story. At the beginning, the Iraq war was a just cause because there was an evil in the world that needed to be neutralized but the invasion of Afghanistan was totally unprovoked and unnecessary. To this day there still is no reason the president has stated why we should have invaded Afghanistan. This begs the reason that we didn't actually go to Iraq to catch the bad guy but for other purposes. Was getting

attacked on 9/11 just a reason for us to set up a military base in that country so that our military could dominate there also? One of the many reasons that the US should have pulled out of Iraq many years ago is the unnecessary loss of life. The longer we are fighting this war the more American casualties will be had. The best option in the situation would not have been to blindly invade Iraq, but first do tactical reconnaissance missions to find out the exact location of the man we were looking for. Also the invasion of Afghanistan is completely and utterly unnecessary. The only reason we invaded there was to try and quell a civil war that we had no part of. For this reason most of the people there felt that the Americans were out of place and did not belong. Thus most of the Afghan civilians did not support what America was trying to do and felt that they needed to handle their own problems and America was just interfering. There is no doubt in any American's mind that support for their troops is needed. The only problem is if they do not believe in the cause they are fighting for, then they will not support them. The best way the US government could have handled the situation was to sound out what the majority of common Americans felt about the war. Then using that information to determine what further actions they should take regarding the war. If Americans feel that there are more problems in their own country to deal with, then having to fight two wars in two different countries halfway around the world is unnecessary and the US government should take steps to address the problems that the American people feel are most important. One of the major arguing points for the war in Iraq is the American people should have faith in their leader and trust that he is making the best decision he can for the greater good of the people. On the other hand, history has shown us that blindly following authority can have

dangerous repercussions. An example of this is a once powerful German leader Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime. Adolf convinced his people to blindly follow his orders and do what he thought was best for creating the number one country in the world, when actually they were creating the most hated country in the world and mindlessly killing millions of innocent people. The American people need to question their leaders authority but not so much that they lose faith in them. They need to find a balance between obeying orders and questioning them. Using their own morals and logic they should determine if they believe those orders are within the boundaries of what they are willing to do for their county. A great example of this is a man by the name of Dietrich Von Choltitz. He was the commander of the third Battalion in the Nazi German army who disobeyed orders directly from Adolf Hitler when he was told to destroy all the bridges in the town he was defending so that could not be taken by the Allies. He negotiated with the French resistance to stop the violence in the city and saved the lives of his men. In doing this he failed to follow orders, but he stopped the destruction of the city from the crushing defeat that would come upon them once the Allies committed to a full invasion of France. Even though the war in Iraq is raised on for more than decade, many people still believe we need to be there. Currently in Iraq is over 180,000 troops on full military deployment, some believe we should withdraw most of those leave trainers to instruct the Iraq police force on the way they should conduct themselves in order to ensure peace in their hostile country. Yet others believe having any troops in that part of the country is a terrible idea. The reason they believe this is direct people are getting fed up the US presence in their country and most of them would like to see a hasty retreat of all US troops from their country. President Obama stated that by the end of 2011 over half the troops in Iraq will be withdrawn and assured the US people that the number would continue to fall.

From the beginning of the Iraq war to present day many things have changed, the type of enemy the United States is facing, the amount of support that they are receiving, and the amount of space the American people have in their leader. Once president Obama was elected to office the American people believe that there will be a change in Iraq but they were sadly mistaken. The war in Iraq is totally uncalled for after this the threat of terrorism had been quelled the country had been stabilized, but still the leaders of the American military decided that it was in their best interest to continue the war. Whether it be for gaining a military base in that in the Far East or for the rich oil reserves of the country no one really knows why the Americans are still fighting. For the loss of wide open casualties to the American people and the Iraq is there is been over 100,000 deaths in a pointless war that was originally set out to eliminate of a handful of evil people. In conclusion the war in Iraq at the beginning was justified but continued to lose support and became a waste of American life, money, and time.

Works Cited Zakheim, Dov S. "What 9/11 Has Wrought." Middle East Quarterly 18.4 (2011): 3-13. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. ECKHOLM, LEIF. "Invading Iran: Lessons From Iraq." Policy Review 168 (2011): 35-49. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. Takeyh, Ray. "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment." Middle East Journal 64.3 (2010): 365-383. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. Schroden, Jonathan. "Why Operations Assessments Fail." Naval War College Review 64.4 (2011): 89-102. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.