Is the war in Iraq the only war in our history not caused by a direct attack or trying to help an ally?

Question

Iraq as a sovereign nation never attacked us. 15 of the 19 hijackers on 911 were from Saudi Arabia. There were no allies involved to protect.

I was going to mention The Spanish American War, but it was of such little consequence(except for Teddy Roosevelt) that I chose not to.

Don't forget: Saddam Hussein is the same evil and despotic dictator that we supplied during the Iraq-Iran War. He is the one and the same that is in that picture with Donald Rumsfeld smiling and shaking hands. He was our boy until he invaded Kuwait.

Regarding the Civil War: Fort Sumpter in South Carolina was an attack on a federal garrison. It was the spark that lit the kindling.

Answer 1

Almost none of our wars were caused by direct attack or aid of an ally.

Nazi Germany never attacked the US. Yet they were our priority in WWII.

Neither France or Britain were 'allies' as we were a neutral nation free of foreign entanglements, yet we interceded on their behalf in WWI.

The Spanish-American war involved no attack and no ally.

Even our own Civil War was a war of 'northern aggression'. The CSA never attacked.

It might be easier to list the attacks upon the US -- 9/11, Pearl Harbor, The British in 1814, the French Navy in 1798.

Answer 2

You seem to have overlooked the invasion of Kuwait and the resulting United Nations response. Saddam was existing under the terms of a cease fire. The current situation, like it or not, is an extension of the 91 invasion and failure to comply with the cease fire agreement. During that time his forces fired on US and British aircraft patrolling the No Fly Zone.

The direct attack, again, was the attack on Kuwait. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were then and are now allies. The Security Council authorized "serious consequence" in many of the resolutions it passed after the cease fire.

Read the UN Charter. Any Nation willing to enforce Security Council resolutions can do so.

Answer 3

No, there are many wars that have not involved direct foreign attacks -- starting with the Revolutionary war, where we (the colonies) launched the first attack. Arguably, we had good reason.....

And Iraq is not a war -- at least not as far as US involvement. Congress never declared war against Iraq, or declared any war that spilled over into Iraq. Congress authorized the use of military force to depose Saddam, and then authorized military aid in reconstructing the country -- that's not a declaration of war.

As for US military actions -- there are 30 something that the US has actively been involved in (list below).

Answer 4

Well, believe it or not, two of the big wars, the one with Korea and the one with Vietnam were both wars that we picked up. Those were an aspect of the Cold War, and more than anything we started them, not to help our allies or because we were under attack, but rather it is simply because we wanted to bring about an end to communism. At the same time if you look back to the American Revolution it was a war that did not arise from conflict either, it came from the taxation issue. We actually declared war after the British sent people to prevent riots from breaking out. So we have a history of first strike wars.

So Iraq is not the first war we have gotten into because we wanted to strike first, and many of the reasons our current President gave for getting involved in the war were similar to those given for the invasion of Korea at the time.

Answer 5

The air campaign on Serbia and the invasion of Kosovo Province meets the limits of that category. Canada, Great Britain and the U.S. flew over 90% of the combat air missions in that war. I can't recall Serbia attacking us before we invaded Kosovo. In fact, there was a family of Serbian farmers who gave asylum to the family of our Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, during World War Two.
The previous invasion of Bosnia also fits that category. There were no attacks on us by Bosnian Muslims or Bosnian Serbs. And the President at the time told the Congress and the American people that our troops would only be committed for a period of one year. BTW, it's over ten years later and we still have troops there.

Answer 6

Not even close. The World Wars and those in response to attack have been the exception, not the rule. Think of all the Indian wars, the Mexican War, the War Between the States (OK, maybe this one's a stretch), the Spanish-American War, the various "Banana Wars." our intervention in Lebanon, or even Somalia. This is very much business as usual.

Answer 7

Trick question. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Israel are allies, and Iraq attacked all of them, not to mention that it was shooting at our planes patrolling the no fly zone.

And do I understand that correctly that you want to attack the entire country of Saudi Arabia just because it contained 15 random people who didn't like the US? There have probably been 15+ school shooters in the US. Do you think we should start carpet bombing ourselves too?

And what is your point when you remind us that we supplied Iraq during their war against Iran? Do you mean that, because of that, we should support them when they later attacked our ally? Or do you mean we should have opposed them when they were attacking our enemy? Either point is stupid.

Answer 8

There has been some controversy about the Spanish-American war that started in 1898, and resulted in The U.S. taking over Spanish Colonies in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

The 'cause' of the war was the explosion of the American battleship, USS Maine, in Havana harbor. Many people now believe that the explosion was caused by an accident in the coal bunkers on the ship, and the US capitalized on this as an excuse to take territory from Spain, who's empire was in decline, and who had no reason to provoke us.

Answer 9

The 1990's original gulf war in Iraq never ended. No treaty was signed but a UN cease fire was imposed. UN and coalition troops maintained a no fly zone within Iraq. Saddam failed to meet the UN cease fire demands so we went back in. Read some history and stop listening to the liberal weanies that keep trying to connect Iraq with 9/11.

Answer 10

Vietnam. France pulled out and we went in claiming our fear of communism as the reason but it was thought there was oil in the area and Vietnam would be easy pickin's. We went in claiming to be "training" the SOuth Vietnamese government but when their president wanted us out, he was assignated and our guy was put in. Then we invented a "Big Lie" (Read Plato's "Republic" to learn why he thought a superior nation must rely on the "Big Lie") namely the Gulf of Tonkin incident where we claimed the North Vietnamese attacked one of our ships. Later it came to light that the incident never happened but was invented to get us into a full scale war fo rthe benifit of our military industrial complex which was the only entity to profit from that war that cost so many lives and so much suffering all around.

President Eisenhauer, the last REAL REPUBLICAN, and leader of the alied armed forces during WWII, warned against the military industrial complex and said that the biggest threat to our democracy comes from within, not from without.

Today we are fighting another war bqased on lies for the benifit of the military industrial complex and the oil industries who think they can take over Iraqi oil, but the Iraqi's won't allow it and like the Vietnamese, are fighting for their sovereignty and will not stop until we leave.