Why are we in Iraq?

Question

I have to do a research paper on the presidential candidates for my English class. And one of the topics is about the war in Iraq.

Answer 1

As a revision to our US policy "leave well enough alone".

We went back to our short list of countries that ..
1. Have an ax to grind with the US.
2. Will be a threat in the short term / long term.
3. A country we can actually "correct" given it's UN (bad) standing from the Gulf War of '91.

Answer 2

Since you are doing a research paper you should look at anything that with "Because Bush or the neocons" as personal opinions and not anything to do with research orfact but rather as personal opinions. There is both personal, moral and legal reasons the US went back to war with Iraq.
The primary reason and it is also the legal reason is because Saddam Hussien broke the cease fire agreement that ended the first Gulf conflict. When that conflict ended the Iraqi's, meaning Saddam Hussein, agreed to certain and specific requirements to end it. Among the agreements were the destruction of his know weapons of mass destruction (chemcal and some biological) and it had to be verified by UN inspectors and a halt into research in those fields which was also to be verified by UN inspectors. During the next two terms on the US presidency Saddam Hussein reluctantly abided with most of those agreements but not all because he did take some of the money from "humanitarian aid" which was allowed and rebuilt a large part of his military with the money which was supposed to buy food and medicine fo the civllian population. He also frquently attacked US and allied aircraft patrolling the "no fly zone" in both southern and northern Iraq and violated it further by having his military aircraft enter those zones. Immediately prior to and after the 9/11 attack on the US, he boldly said he was not going to allow verification of the destruction of the WMD's and forced the UN inspectors to leave the country. He said he had destroyed then all and that no verification was necessary; this is a clear cut violation of the cease fire and forms a legal justification to esume offensive miitary operations. These points are often forgotten by those opposed to the current conflict but actually form a legal re-institution of the earler Gulf War, the current conflict is not a new one but rather because of violations of the accords which ended the first just a restarting on the same conflict, and is legal as it is authorized by the UN then and through the US Congress for both the prior and current operations. The question was not ever really whether he did or did not have weapons of mass destruction (primarily chemical weapons which he had used in the past) but his refusal to abide by the peace terms which established a cease fire, not an end to the conflict, from the first Gulf conflict by allowing the required verification. So legally the US was not only authorized but too a great extent required to resume operations against Iraq.
Morally the continued oppression of the Shi'ite Muslims in the south and Kurds in the North had been lessend by the UN established "no fly zone" but had continued; te Shi'tes in southern Iraq had revolted towards the end of the first Gulf conflict and yhis was another reason Saddam Hussein had agreed to the cease fire; he needed the military to suppress that revolt and once the cease fire was signed he brutally suppressed it and regained control of the area. Morally because of that suppression and the suppression of te Kurds in the south we should have stepped in to stop it. The US had actually helped began the revolt in the south by promising aid if they did but after the cease fire had backed out of that commitment and left the Shi'tes out on a limb that Saddam Hussein then cut off. This is one of the reasons for the distrust.dislike of the Americans in that area of Iraq and why the British were given the policing duties there.
Personal and here the opponents are probaly correct-Bush senior had been forced to end the first conflict while winning based on UN political pressure and the approval of the accords to end it by Saddam Hussein. That left a sore spot there that actually bothered many people and a wish to end it once and for all probably paid a minor role in the decision. The key thing though is that the breaking of the UN mandated accords that formed the reason for the cease fire after the first Gulf conflict formed a legal and authorized justification for resuming military operations against Saddam Husseins's Iraq.

Answer 3

The answer certainly does NOT lies in the first 8 left-wing liberal responses (all of which are heavily influenced by the mainstream far left liberal media)! The reason we are in Irag is to fight terrorism and help creat a better life for the people of Iraq. If Slick Willy a.k.a. William J. Clinton had done something with Osama bin Laden the four times he was offered to him on a silver platter, the catostrophic events in New York city and the Pentagon most likely would not have happened (he was the one that sent out the order for the attacks)! If all of the wacked out liberals would wake up and smell the coffee, they would surely realize that our troops are doing an amazing job and preventing terrorists from bringing the war to our soil! That is the facts of the matter and not all the propoganda the others are sending you.

Answer 4

Well do you want the "Truth" that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside or do you want the cold hard truth, that you may not want to hear.

The "Truth" is that we are in Iraq, because of Osama bin Laden. Because it was discovered that Saddam Hussein was harboring terrorists, no wait we found out that Bush lied about that and that it was completely false. So Bush changed his reasons and now it is because Saddam was threatening us with his arsenal if WMDs. Now wait we invaded Iraq and we could not find any WMDs. But our official reason is still WMDs.

If you want the actual truth, just look at who stood to profit from this war, you will see that every political figure who was for the war is now making more money than you can even imagine. There are companies working in Iraq right now under government contracts who are raking in the dough, and the people who own those companies all played a crucial role in sending the United States into Iraq. Like it or not it is the absolute truth, unless you can show me proof that this is untrue.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071226091955AA7iB67&r=w

Answer 5

The best answer I can think of is this "Follow the Money". Bush said it was about weapons of mass destruction, then when that lie was exposed, changed it to stopping terrorists all the while the people and companies he has done business with for years have been making money hand over fist. The war in Iraq is not even really about the oil, just the profits that controlling that oil and disrupting that oil flow generate. Bush is a "Good Old Boy" in the old fashioned sense, he is using his power as president to make his cronies money.

Answer 6

There is the feel good story of getting rid of the evil dictator and freeing the people which is why the troops and military personnel are there. That and they are required to follow orders.

The real truth or my version of it is more complex. We want a strong hold in the middle east for their oil capabilities. This world will eventually run out of this resource and the powers at be needed a foot hole for the eventual oil crisis. Islamic Jhadist (sp) teach their young to hate the west as early as they can. The thought that we might be able to infiltrate this thought process by bringing peace to a region that has killed itself since recorded time was a huge motivating factor. This war was also thought to keep the terrorist focus located in 2 central locations, AFG, and Iraq thus spreading them thin and keeping harm out of the country. The weapons of mass destruction was another area that was highly questionable. History will show weather or not this was worth the fight. You can scream at the top of your lungs for or against it. If it works, it will be a feat larger than the fall of Soviet Communism. If it fails, it will make our country worse off than we could have ever imagined and our most precious resource military men and women will have died and bled because of the politicians that pull the strings on both sides of the isle. There will be no middle, hope against hope for the fist scenario.

Answer 7

Start with the source! This is the resolution passed by Congress and giving the reasons:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021002-2.html

Good luck.

Answer 8

When a question like this is asked, it shouldn't be asked here. You need to read some news articles and find out the facts and decide for yourseld why you think the war was started.

Answer 9

This is not the forum to get real answers, contact your state senator and reps to get a better look. Try to contact Republican and Democrat to get 2 sides to the story.

Answer 10

Iraq has become the new Panama City Beach for college spring breakers the past few years, and some even refer to Iraq as "the Sandbox". It offers miles and miles of beautiful beaches with lots of young people ready for action. Several areas offer virtually no laws which enable youngsters to party all night long and even shoot guns into the wee morning hours. The best part is...flights to Iraq are paid for by the US government and vacationers can opt to stay for up to 15 months at a time.

All in all, Iraq is emerging as the new hotspot for young people looking for the time of their lives.