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Was the war on Iraq justified
The United States could not have stood idly by while the proletariats suffered under the vindictive Iraqi regime. The coalition’s invasion of Iraq was justified. Iraq brings suffering upon its own people. Hundreds of thousands died unnatural deaths as an outcome of Saddam’s actions. Many of these were Shi’a Muslims. Although they represent the majority of the population they are banned from practicing many of the pillars of their religion. (Life Under Saddam Hussein) The brutal oppression of the Iraqi regime has triggered sporadic uprisings with gruesome results. Saddam Hussein’s government also posed a threat the free world. Iraq’s system of government engendered the terrorist groups that continuously threatened American lives. As Benjamin Netanyahu says
“from its inception totalitarianism has always been wedded to terrorism--from Lenin to Stalin to Hitler to the ayatollahs to Saddam Hussein, right down to Osama bin Laden and Yasser Arafat.”
Iraq two most threatening characteristics were an array of chemical and biological weapons, and an army of manipulated persons willing to use them against anyone, at any time. Iraq’s course of voluntary disarmament “could not offer a starker contrast” (Rice) to that of previous countries. Iraq was not open with the inspectors searching for weapons, and they submitted no more information to them than they had to. Iraq’s compliance, or lack there of, in the issue of disarmament demonstrates their unwillingness to make the world a safer place.
Force was necessary to remove the Iraqi regime from power. Saddam could have continued to appease the paltry demands of the UN for many more years if military action had not been taken. Iraq’s disclosure of weapons information was never forthcoming. Saddam may have allowed inspectors, but he could easily stall or remove them if they got too close to sensitive information. It was proved time and again that there was simply no diplomatic way of dealing with a despot like Saddam Hussein.
Hitherto the Iraqi people were subordinated to the cruel and oppressive leadership of Saddam Hussein. The majority of the population, Shi’a Muslims, has been forcibly suppressed by the empowered few. Hussein displayed his brutality during many attempted insurrections throughout the course of his leadership. In the late 1980s Iraqi campaign against the Kurds Hussein used chemical weapons such as mustard gas and nerve gases. More recently:
"Over the past five years, 400,000 Iraqi children under the age of five died of malnutrition and disease, preventively, but died because of the nature of the regime under which they are living." (Prime Minister Tony Blair, March 27, 2003)
Iraq has also been the scene for the execution of thousands of prisoners, both political and criminal. Many of these executions took place [next page]