Alisa+S

__Why and How the__ __Iraq__ __War Started__ The Iraq War began on March 20, 2003. People have many different opinions about how the world started. Some people believe that the war started as a result of the September 11 attacks. Other people believe that the war began because of the speculation that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The question is, why did the war really start? The answer is that the U.S. Government believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. These weapons could be used against the United States. The United States along with other countries including Iraq, had made an agreement to not construct, trade, or utilize weapons of mass destruction. This agreement was made in 1991 through the United Nations. President George H. W. Bush was president at the time. He is our current president’s father. The agreement was speculated to be broken when, as Joaquin Cabrejas states, “ Iraqi President Saddam Hussein posed an immediate threat to the security of the United States because he had weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaeda,” Al-Qaeda is another contributing factor to the beginning of the Iraqi War. Al Qaeda is a one of many terrorist groups that claim to be a part of Islam. This terrorist group believes in holy war, or “Jihad”. They believe Americans are enemies of their religion, Islam. Muslims do not believe in this, but the “Islamic” extremists such as Al-Qaeda do. When the attacks of September 11th occurred, the government speculated that the terrorist group Al-Qaeda was responsible for the assaults. [|George Bush delivered a speech] about September 11th attacks. In this speech, he stated that the U.S. was doing all it could to stay as normal as possible. They blamed Al- Qaeda because they believed that their leader, Osama Bin Laden, held weapons of mass destruction. This was a supporting factor in the decision to go to war with Iraq. George Bush had expressed the need to go to war with Iraq. He had many supporters in his cause. Some of these people included Hillary Clinton and [|John Edwards]. John Edwards would later run against Bush, with John Kerry, in the 2004 election. The American people were divided in this conflict. Some citizens strongly opposed the idea of war and some thought that it was what was best for the country at the time. President Bush gave Sadaam Hussein and his sons the option of leaving the country within forty-eight hours, or the U.S. forces would invade. On March 19th, 2003 the U.S. forces invaded Iraq. They stealth bombed where 55 Iraqi government leaders and Hussein’s daughters lived. Approximately 4,000 and 10,000 Iraqi civilians died in the invasion. On March 20th, 2003 the invasion of Baghdad actually began. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, believed that the Iraqi citizens will assist in overthrowing the Iraqi government. The armed forces destruct Hussein’s homes and churches to try and convince the citizens of Iraq that it is okay to bring down the Iraqi government. British forces have also joined the U.S.’s efforts. Over the next two weeks, U.S. invaded and took control of three more Iraqi cities. These include Najaf, Basra, and Nasiriya. To secure Basra, on March 30th, British Royal Marine forces launch Operation James. This is one of the biggest missions the British instigated. On April 4th many Iraqi teenagers are killed at the Saddam International Airport. These teenagers belonged to a group called Baghdad Fedayeen. This group counter-acted the American forces therefore, were killed. On April 7th, the U.S. tries to invade the eastern side of Baghdad by capturing the Diyala Bridge. Many Iraqi civilians were killed in their failure to cooperate with the troops. During the next two days, U.S. and British forces secure Baghdad. In Firdo’s Square, a statue of Sadaam Hussein is toppled by a group of Iraqi citizens. General Tommy Franks visited the city of Baghdad. He was the leader of the invasion. He congratulated the U.S. on a successful invasion of Baghdad. The start of the war is still uncertain, but some people believe that President Bush could have handled the beginning of the war much differently than he did. When former Secretary of the Army (2001-2003) Thomas White was asked whether he was personally angry about the postwar being mishandled, he replied,” I think we should all be angry. It is ultimately going to cost an enormous amount of treasure, and how many lives, I don't know. But certainly the burden to the country is going to go on for a long time. I don't think we adequately addressed that on the front end,” Most people think that is the problem of weapons of mass destruction was handled sooner, that the attacks on September 11th may not have occurred. The attacks may have occurred whether we had invaded Iraq sooner or not. No one knew about the attacks on September 11th, and it is possible that no one could have known about other attacks Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist group had planned. The start of the war is debatable because of the time the U.S. invaded, not because of why we invaded. It is certain that the cause of the war is because the U.S. believed that the Iraqi government, Sadaam Hussein, and Osama Bin Laden had weapons of mass destruction. This was against the agreement made in 1991.

__Works Cited__ BBS News. Photos.  Cabrejas, Joaquin. "Behind Bush's drive to war." __The Humanist__ 63.6 (Nov-Dec 2003): 20(5). __ Student __ __Resource__ __Center__ __- Gold__. Gale. Seton High School. 7 May 2008. <[|http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.] Frontline: The Invasion of Iraq. Louis Wiley Jr., 26 February 2004. PBS. 7 May 2008  Rubin, Alissa J. Iraq War. 16 December 2007. __The New York Times__. 7 May 2008  Stoll, Ira. “‘Israel Lobby' Caused War in Iraq, September 11 Attacks, Professor Says” 8 September 2006. 7 May 2008. <[|http://www.nysun.com/article/40629> YouTube. < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY6BZgkI0kI&feature=related>