Christine+C

Christine Carnessali Mrs. Downey CP American Writers 8 May 2008

Causes of War in Iraq

There are many speculations regarding the reasons for the current war. Many people theorize that war was declared to counteract terrorism, while others believe that we went to spread democracy. None of these people are wrong; there is not one main cause for the war in the Middle East. There are five major reasons we went into war. One is the issue of terrorism, the second reason is [|oil], the third is the “Grand Area”, the next reason is Saddam Hussein, and the last reason is to spread democracy. None of these reasons are wrong, but not one reason is the only cause of the war. The first speculated reason is that we went to war to stop terrorism. We went to Afghanistan after the attacks on September 11th. Our goal was to find Osama Bin Laden and the alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction (or WMD’s). It was believed that Taliban, an Islamist group that started ruling Afghanistan in 1996, needed to be shut down to prevent terrorism. When we didn’t find Bin Laden, it was thought that he left the country. The military chased him into Iraq. The second reason we started a war was oil. Both President Bush and Vice President Cheney have a lot of money in the oil companies. Because there is a large amount of oil in Iraq and most of that is threatened because of the hostilities in the region making the amount of available oil less and economics dictates that if the supply goes down and demand remains (or increases as the demand for oil has) then the price of oil goes up., and men with power and money always want more. Since the gas prices went up, the families are getting more money. The third reason is The Grand Area. The Grand Area was an idea created by the United States after World War II. The idea of this concept was to find out how much territory the United States would have to control in order to keep the status quo in the country without making any changes within the country. The end results of the calculations were that the United States would have to control all of Africa, East Asia, and the former British Empire. There are some people that believe that this is still a goal of the United States and although there aren't many who believe this, there is enough of a group to make this a possible, though unlikely, reason that we invaded Iraq Another reason we went to Iraq was to find Saddam Hussein. There have been several reasons the U.S. went after Saddam. Saddam was an evil ruler who ignored his people, violated human rights, and possessed WMD’s. Saddam had ties to Al Qaeda, a terrorist organization, and posed a threat to the United States. Some people believe that the reason we moved to Saddam was to set up a chance for occupying the entire Middle East. If we would obtain permanent military occupation of Saudi Arabia, we have [|access to oil]. Spreading democracy is also another speculation on why we went to war. Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, was an evil dictator. He tortured people and we went into Iraq to save people’s lives, and democracy is one way to do that. This is when the war became “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. The goals of “Operation Iraqi Freedom” were to end the reign of Saddam, to eliminate the threat of WMD’s, to get rid of terrorists, secure Iraq’s oil fields, and to help the Iraqi people create a better government. Their former government was one of control, and America felt that they should experience freedom and we should give them that chance. Over one million excited Iraqi people signed up to vote. There is not a single cause of the war, many factors come into play. Everything we’ve done in Iraq is to better the Iraqi people’s lives, and to protect our own. Though there is not one main cause for the war in Iraq, each reason is to help the Iraqi people. There are many possible causes of the war, and theoretically none of them are wrong.

Citations: "Dominance and Its Dilemmas." Noam Chomsky. Aug. 2003. 2 May 2008.

Kagan, Robert, and William Kristol. "The U.S. Invasion of Iraq Was Justified." Opposing Viewpoints: Weapons of Mass Destruction. Ed. James D. Torr. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Seton High School. 7 May. 2008.

Kennedy, Edward M. "The War Against Iraq Was Unjustified." Current Controversies: America's Battle Against Terrorism. Ed. Andrea C. Nakaya. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Seton High School. 7 May. 2008.

“Operation Iraqi Freedom” John Pike. 2000. 28 April 2008 ttp://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraqi_freedom.htm>

“The War Against Iraq and America’s Drive for World Domination” David North. 1998. 29 April 2008

“Why War With Iraq?” Robert M. Bowman. 2002. 2 May 2008

Weathers, Lori. "Iraq War (2003): Middle East Wars." United States at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. 2008. ABC-CLIO. 7 May 2008.

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