The U.S. is in Iraq for reasons unclear to the Americans
because there is speculation in one corner and the government in the
other. With that said there can be no mediation of this issue. The government says we’re are there to spread
freedom and security;the speculations from others say we are
harming the Iraqi people by being there and just taking their oil supply
and using it to add onto our own. Still, we don't in all actuality know
what goes on over there and it could be good or bad. Here one will learn the reasons behind the fact that there is no gray areas in the red bloodshed of Iraq. There is a lot of speculation behind the fact the U.S is in Iraq for oil, so much in fact that it must hold some truth. Iraq holds the second largest proven reserves and it would be naïve to believe that the U.S. has not thought about that fact. Because of the growing demand for gas and crude oil being a necessary component of gas it just make sense that in the government point of view one can see what kind of opportunity Iraq presents. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released the numbers of crude oil exported into the U.S. in January 2008 and from those records one can find that 0.543 million barrels per day were exported from Iraq. Although this number is insignificant to the other numbers it is in my belief and many others that this is just the beginning. Consider the fact that according to EIA, “…estimates that up to 90-percent of the country remains unexplored ....” which means there is much opportunity lying in the unexplored areas. Was the “War on Terror” just a cover-up to gain control over the rest of these areas to take control of the possible oil reserves? Who is to say, but this question could be argued nonetheless. People often argue that Iraq oil is not that important and the U.S would never just invade Iraq on those reasons alone. But keep in mind the basic lessons of economics, which are supply and demand. The more supply, the lower the price and the more demand, the higher the price. Still one must think of this on the grand scale, such as what influences global supply of oil? Well of course the Middle East influences this the most and Iraq takes a very big chunk of it. This is because of the fact that Iraq is so vulnerable right now and by taking control of Iraq one could then take control of the prices of the oil being shipped in from other countries. The Middle East has a lot of power currently when it comes to oil prices and if problems presented themselves there it could end in disaster here. Why is it that Iraq is the only country being confronted profusely for having weapons of mass destruction? It is well known fact that North Korea was a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but withdrew in 2003. And then to make it worst on October 9, 2006 there was an announcement by the North Korean government that said they had successfully conducted a nuclear test for the first time. So knowing this information why hasn’t the U.S. invaded their country looking for the weapons of mass destruction. If the U.S. true purpose for invading Iraq were to search for weapons of mass destruction why wasn't North Korea invaded? One of the biggest reasons many people backed the war in the first place is the fact that it was thought that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and were concealing them. So it would seem logically that the U.S. would pursue every country that has weapons of mass destruction. Consider the fact that North Korea is known for having nuclear bombs and already testing them so that definitely constitutes to me as evidence of weapons of mass destruction. It appears to me the U.S. is just taking a hypocritical attack at the entire situation. There are many departments in the White House and in the U.S. military that voice there opinion on issues and there importance, so who is to blame for miscalculating the North Korea and Iraq balance? One has North Korea in one corner with definite weapons of mass destruction and in the other corner one has Iraq with speculations of weapons of mass destruction. I’m not a rocket scientist but I think I know a pile of excrement when I see it. If there was no other reason to believe what the speculations this is definite good enough to justify any argument that comes to the light. Obviously the government relies on speculations to fuel an argument so why can’t others and I fuel our argument on speculations against them. In the book, Weapons of Mass Deception, it says that a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee “…was so baffled by the contradictory assessments of Iraq…he asked the CIA to come up with a report on the likelihood that Suddam Hussein would use weapons of mass destruction… a senior CIA intelligence witness responded that the likelihood was “low” .” So a “senior” member of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said that the likelihood was “low” and yet we still ventured into Iraq searching for weapons of mass destruction. The question though is why and this is the most dominant reason why I was inspired to write about the Iraq War in the first place. In the film Why We Fight it speaks of a CIA term called “Lowback”. Lowback is “unattended consequences of foreign operations that was deliberately kept secret from the American public so that when the retaliation comes the ‘American public can’t put it in context; to put cause and effect together” The public deserves the answer to why but it is the one question that has yet to be answered. The U.S. basically had the world behind them in the beginning of this war because of how many people were killed in the 9/11 tragedy. The level of fear at that moment was at its very highest and all any American wanted to know was who and why. When the truth finally arisen the publics pain and sorrow then filled with hate and revenge for the killers and there background. The U.S. government thrived on these emotions and used them to help give reason for going into Iraq. The U.S. government dodged the real threat and instead went down another path filled with death and money lost for reasons only they know. Still some agree with President George W. Bush and top military leaders, the United States’ presence in Iraq is important for Iraqi security and world-wide security. Many Americans share the opinion that we have no business meddling in Iraqi affairs and believe that the soldiers there are fighting for a lost and nonexistent cause. This is a good reason why it is so hard to believe both views. This is issue is like racism. You are either racist or your not; there is no in between. On March 20, 2003 the United States Army, along with several other coalition forces such as the U.K. and armies from smaller countries such as Australia and Poland, invaded Iraq. The main reason for the invasion given by President Bush was that Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi government were storing and actively making Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). If this were true, Saddam Hussein would be violating an agreement put into place in 1991. United States top officials believed that Saddam Hussein and his army posed an imminent and urgent threat to the United States and its allies. They also believed that Iraq was working closely with al-Qaeda and aiding terrorists who were planning to make attacks on America and its allies.
When a search was conducted in Iraq by U.N. inspectors no Weapons of Mass Destruction were found, but officials believed that as soon as sanctions were lifted off of Iraq, they would jump on the chance to resume production of WMD’s. Although no WMD’s were found, forces remained in Iraq for the following reasons: Iraq’s financial support for Palestinian suicide bombers and their families, Iraqi government human rights abuses, spreading democracy, and taking control of Iraqi oil reserves. The government lies about so many issues surrounding the Iraq war to the point where one has to think is the Iraq war just another lie. Of the so called 50 successful smart bombs dropped in Iraq 0 hit their designated target according to the film Why We Fight. Still that is not even talking about the death toll and costs of war which are reaching ridiculous numbers. The Iraq war is still going on to this day and every day another soldier dies and more money is wasted because of lies. It would be unrealistic to believe that everything the government says is the truth so this is good because it just brings their dirt to the light. They government actually keeps up with the death toll in Iraq and one can find the count up of money being spent in Iraq on many sites on the internet. MSNBC actually said they believe the war could actually surpass $1 trillion and that is enough money to save a lot more problems that need to be solved in a lot more needy places. Propaganda is a set of messages aimed at shaping the opinions or behavior of large number of people. Twenty three million dollars were spent in the first year of John W. “Rendon’s post-war contract with the CIA… producing videos and comic books ridiculing Saddam…” in Iraq according to the book Weapons of Mass Deception. And that was just the first year of the “post war” so one can see how well money was spent in the war. According to the MSNBC “the tab grows by at least $200 million each and every day.” Which sounds pretty accurate considering that the site Wired Science says that $506 Billion have been spent in the past 5 years. That’s $506 Billion that could have been spent to feed the hungry and save lives versus take them. That’s $506 Billion that could have been spent to help fight for the genocide in Darfur. That’s $506 Billion that could have been used to fund research on Global Warming to help the worldwide. This list could go on and on but hopefully one sees the point and the many opportunities lost with that money. As of March 28, 2008 4,002 American soldiers have died. According to the site Iraq Body Count, 82,991 – 90,534 of civilians died from 2003 to 2007. Still this number is only referring to the individuals who died and were documented. Hence not only are our friends and family being killed in the Iraq war but also many Iraq friends and family. Many people see war in general as a one man show but in reality there is another side suffering just as much if not more. Who is to say all Arabic people are suicidal bombers and killers? Who is to say there pain isn’t as painful as ours? Who is to say there lives are less important than ours? After being informed about the Iraq War one should now see why there is no mediation possible in this issue. The Iraq war sides are just too diverse and opposite of each other. Each side is completely contradicting and concrete about the issues. For example, one view says the main reason for the invasion given by President Bush was that Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi government were storing and actively making Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The other view discredits this one because it is well known fact that North Korea was a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but withdrew in 2003. And then to make it worst on October 9, 2006 there was an announcement by the North Korean government had successfully conducted a nuclear test for the first time. So in one hand there are beliefs that a place has WMD and in the other there is concrete evidence that a country has WMD. Why wasn’t North Korea invaded also? Still at the end of the day one just has to choose who to believe. There are facts and evidence behind both views but how do you know which evidence to believe is true?
Works Cited
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