War with Iraq

The war with Iraq began about fifteen years ago. Still to this day people are torn between going to war and trying to keep peace with Iraq. Back when the United States first had a problem with Iraq was when they invaded Kuwait in 1990, and refused to leave. Their were three main causes that made Iraq invade Kuwait. The Iraqi leaders have always considered Kuwait to be part of Iraq because of the way it used to be a long time ago. Second, the country of Kuwait is full of oil. I am sure that was the main reason why Saddam invaded Kuwait. Lastly, Kuwait wanted complete sovereignty from Iraq, and Saddam was not ready to give them that.

I think it is really ironic how the United States government was helping Iraq by giving them money, while Iraq was in war with Iran. Then George Bush Sr. Starts a war with them. After Bush Sr. Got out of office and Bill Clinton was elected their was not any serious problems with Iraq. But after that George Bush Jr. Is elected and yet again we are in another was with Iraq. The Bush Administration's relations with Iraq prior to its invasion of Kuwait were cloudy to begin with anyways. When Iraq invaded Kuwait it gave George Bush Sr. The perfect reason to go to war and get some oil while he was at it.

Although completely unreported by the U.S. media and government, the reason why I

think the United States went to war, was because of the oil currency war. One of the main

reasons for this war we are in right now is to prevent further Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) momentum towards the euro as an oil selling currency standard. In order to take action against OPEC, they need to gain control of Iraq along with its 2nd largest proven oil reserves.

When I knew what I was writing my paper about for this class, I started going around and asking people about the war. A supervisor of mine at work said, "Sure, it's about oil, but what's wrong with that?" It was British and American oil companies that created the oil industry in Iraq, and their facilities were illegally taken away from them decades ago. A war for oil is no less justifiable than any other conflict to take back what is rightfully ours. Yet it still does not seem right, because thousands of people are going to be dying for oil. If the United States were to intervene in a conflict every time the interests of an American corporation were threatened, our military would be very busy.

"Summoned before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to clarify her role in the Administration's relations with Iraq before August 2, 1990, Ambassador Glaspie offered her version of the events that led to the invasion. She recalled that Iraq had first and foremost just finished a long, drawn out war with its neighbor, Iran. Hussein, she said, had made repeated threats against the state of Israel in the first half of 1990, but suddenly switched his focus from Israel to Kuwait and another neighbor to the south, the United Arab Emirates"(Brethour, Patrick) He announced in a speech, that if Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates did not revise their oil policy and produce according to their OPEC quotas, Iraq would take upon itsel

effective measures to make sure they did. "The Americans were determined to go to war from the start," and Saddam Hussein "walked into a trap," according to the former French foreign minister Claude Cheysson (Brethour Patrick). Evidence has been found to suggest that the Persian Gulf war is the result of a long process of preparation. "For a decade during the war with Iran and Iraq, Saddam Hussein's Iraq had enjoyed US and Western military, political and economic support, including $ 1.5 billion of sales approved by the U.S. government"(Amhed Nafeez). I think the war with Iraq in 1990 was very fishy. I also think that the war that is going on today makes me a lot more skeptical about the organization that runs our country.

In 2002 George Bush Jr. Believed their were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. After years of searching he still has not found anything. I think George Bush Jr. Is in Iraq the same reason his father was in war with Iraq. The Bush administration wants a puppet government in Iraq, so that in the long run the United States might make some money out of Iraq's oil fields. Recently the Middle East switched from the dollar to the euro for oil trading. I think they did this so that the countries of Europe will give some competition to the other countries that buy oil. That is very smart because eventually that might just happen and the middle eastern countries can get more money out of their oil.

At the time of the switch many analysts were surprised that Saddam was willing to give up millions in oil revenue for what everyone thought was just a political statement. The steady depreciation of the dollar versus the euro since late 2001 means that Iraq has profited a huge amount from the switch in their currencies. The euro has gained about sixteen or sevente

percent against the dollar in that time. Which means Iraq is making a whole lot of money off of their oil.

Another reason why I think America went to war with Iraq is because of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center towers. I think Bush just wanted to show the world how strong we really are, and to scare any terrorist groups or other countries out of doing any harm to American or the American people. Bush just wants to keep terrorism in check and try to make sure it does not happen to the American people again.

Terrorism is a special type of violence. It is a tactic used in peace, conflict and war. The threat of terrorism is always around, and an attack is likely to occur when it is least expected. The definition of terrorism is "the calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to fear; intended to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious or ideological."(Dictionary.com) Terrorists usually know what they are doing and their selection of a target is planned and rational. Terrorism is common practice in insurgencies, but insurgents are not necessarily terrorists if they do not engage in those forms of violence identified as terrorist acts. Terrorists usually convince themselves that their actions are justified on a higher law, like by their god. All war has its own rules of international law, and Terrorists recognize no rules. No person, place, or object of value is immune from terrorist attacks. Modern terrorism offers its followers many advantages. First, by not recognizing innocents, terrorists have an infinite number of targets. They select their targets and determine when, where, and how they will attack.

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