Truth is Stranger than Fiction

How the United

States Got Involved
in the Second Iraq
War
By Adam Friedenthal
Backgro
und
Saddam Hussein was the dictator of Iraq. He came to power in 1979 and
was dictator for more than twenty years.

The United States as result from the first Iraq war, continued to enforce a
no Fly zone in the Northern part of Iraq to protect the Kurds a large ethnic
population, and in the Southern Part of Iraq to protect the Shiite Muslims.

The United States had imposed trade embargo on Iraq, which did not allow
Hussein to sell his country's oil

Being leftovers from the first Iraq war, the tension between Iraq and the
United States was already very strong.
The Reason
NIne-eleven was a big trigger for the United States to invade Iraq, as the US believed that Saddam
Hussein had connections with Al Qaeda, the terrorist group that carried out the attack.

In 2003, President George W. Bush and his administration decided to invade Iraq because they
believed Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.

Bush feared that those weapons of mass destruction would be used to harm the United States in a
terrorist attack.

In order to prevent any future attacks on the United States would, the US would have to invade in
order to find these weapons of mass destruction, and destroy them before they could be used
for so-called terrorist attacks.

However the Bush administration had faulty evidence that these weapons were present in Iraq,
though it was convincing enough for legislature to pass a vote to fight in Iraq.

Also another big reason was to take Saddam Hussein out of power and have a regime change.
The
Vote
The Bush administration had proposed a war powers resolution for the
United States to go to war in Iraq.

The resolution passed, as the democratic led senate voted 77-23.

Then on March 20, US forces were deployed in Iraq, to fight the Iraqi army,
and find these weapons of mass destruction and to hopefully take
Saddam Hussein out of power.
The Result
No weapons of Mass destruction were found in Iraq

Over 4,000 US troops lost their lives fighting in this war

The US spent 1.7 trillion dollars on this war in hopes of finding these
weapons of mass destruction.

Though the US did successfully have a regime change and took Hussein out
of power.
Consequences
Many lives were lost and many were mentally and physically scarred by this
war. Over 50,000 people were injured during the war which caused later
problems such as PTSD and major lifestyle changes such as those who
lost limbs.

The United States became even more in debt, as they spent a lot of money
on the war and still do

The whole region around Iraq was completely destabilized as it changed the
balance of power as Iran, an enemy of the US, became even stronger.
How this relates to truth is
stranger than fiction
How this relates to truth is stranger than fiction is the United States chose
to go to war, and did not have solid evidence for the reason they were
invading. The US still went to war, spent trillions of dollars, and lost may lives,
all based on false claims made by the Bush Administration.
Sources
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-142230/Bush-wins-Congress-backing-
war-Iraq.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/07/usa.iraq1

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-war-anniversary-idUSBRE92D0PG2013
0314
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/war-in-iraq-begins

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/08/31/world/middleeast/20100831-I
raq-Timeline.html?_r=0