...declared, falsely, that Iraq possessed “weapons of mass destruction” (WMDs) and that we had to prevent Saddam from unleashing his furry on the World or else we would all be doomed. So with no evidence to support these claims and against the United Nations orders, the United States and the Allied forces brought “freedom” and “democracy” to the people of Iraq. Now, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know just how this new found, wonderful freedom and democracy has benefited the people of Iraq. Just take a look at this fact; over four million Iraqis have emigrated from Iraq since 2003. What does this mean? This means that the invasion of Iraq was wrong. Bush and his so called “friends” invaded under false pretences; they were selective about where and when to promote this so-called democracy; and they did not make the world a safer place by eliminating Saddam Hussein. In the lead up to the war, Tony Blair and George Bush claimed that Saddam’s Iraq had developed weapons capable of creating mass destruction and that the only solution was too enter Iraq and exterminate these weapons. However, after seven years of endless searching not a single piece of evidence was found to support Bush and Blair’s claims. The collation forces ended up leaving Iraq WMDless. In any case, even if Iraq did have WMDs, so does other countries such as Israel, Russia and North Korea (which by the way has openly threatened to attack America). Even so, the apple does not fall far from the tree because...
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...The reason I chose this book to review is because I honestly had no idea what exactly is going on in Iraq. I know that the U.S. military has been there for quite some time and I know at one point there was a lot of controversy on whether to withdraw troops or not. This book seemed like it would give me insight on the situation within Iraq and why the U.S. is still in the Middle East. Security in Iraq, A Framework for Analyzing Emerging Threats as U.S. Forces Leave, is another RAND book written by David C. Gompert, Terrence K. Kelly and Jessica Watkins. First off, I would like to point out that this book was published in 2010 and therefore ISIS and other current groups did not play any key factors in their analysis of the security of Iraq....
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...Baghdad city was one of the wonders of the world. ... It is [our] hope that the aspirations of your philosophers and writers shall be realized and that once again the people of Baghdad shall flourish, enjoying their wealth and substance under institutions which are in consonance with their sacred laws and their racial ideals.[1] The government of Iraq, and the future of your country, will soon belong to you. ... We will end a brutal regime ... so that Iraqis can live in security. We will respect your great religious traditions, whose principles of equality and compassion are essential to Iraq's future. We will help you build a peaceful and representative government that protects the rights of all citizens. And then our military forces will leave. Iraq will go forward as a unified, independent, and sovereign nation that has regained a respected place in the world. You are a good and gifted people -- the heirs of a great civilization that contributes to all humanity.[2] Britain's 1917 occupation of Iraq holds worrying parallels with today.[3] After the euphoric 1917 capture of Baghdad and expulsion of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq soon became an ever deepening financial drain and graveyard for Britain. The same situation faces the US and to some degree...
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...Events in Iraq have prompted some people on the left to make comparisons to the American experience in the Vietnam War. These people argue that the United States has put itself into an in-extractable “quagmire” from which there is no feasible withdrawal. This type of reasoning by historical comparison is not wise because no two historical events are completely alike. In the case of Iraq and Vietnam, extreme caution should be exercised in comparing two wars so far apart in historical circumstances, geography, and time. It becomes pretty obvious that the differences between the two conflicts greatly outnumber the similarities. This is especially true in the strategic and military dimensions of the two wars. There is simply no comparison between the environment, the scale of military presence, losses incurred over time, the quality of enemy resistance, the role and scope of enemy allies, and the duration of open warfare style combat. There are, however, two political parts of the Iraq and Vietnam wars that are similar in nature: our attempts at nation-building in a foreign culture, and our trying to sustaining domestic popular support in a long and drawn out war against insurgents. Policymakers should have an understanding of the reasons for U.S. political failure in South Vietnam, as well as for the Johnson and Nixon administrations’ failure to sustain popular support for the accomplishment of U.S. military objectives in Vietnam. A repeat of those failures in Iraq could have...
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...IRAQ FINAL PAPER Events in Iraq have prompted some people on the left to make comparisons to the American experience in the Vietnam War. These people argue that the United States has put itself into an in-extractable “quagmire” from which there is no feasible withdrawal. This type of reasoning by historical comparison is not wise because no two historical events are completely alike. In the case of Iraq and Vietnam, extreme caution should be exercised in comparing two wars so far apart in historical circumstances, geography, and time. It becomes pretty obvious that the differences between the two conflicts greatly outnumber the similarities. This is especially true in the strategic and military dimensions of the two wars. There is simply no comparison between the environment, the scale of military presence, losses incurred over time, the quality of enemy resistance, the role and scope of enemy allies, and the duration of open warfare style combat. There are, however, two political parts of the Iraq and Vietnam wars that are similar in nature: our attempts at nation-building in a foreign culture, and our trying to sustaining domestic popular support in a long and drawn out war against insurgents. Policymakers should have an understanding of the reasons for U.S. political failure in South Vietnam, as well as for the Johnson and Nixon administrations’ failure to sustain popular support for the accomplishment of U.S. military objectives in Vietnam. A repeat of those failures...
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...Iraq, known in classical antiquity as Mesopotamia, was home to the oldest civilizations in the world,[1][2] with a cultural history of over 10,000 years,[3][4][5] hence its common epithet, the Cradle of Civilization. Mesopotamia, as part of the larger Fertile Crescent, was a significant part of theAncient Near East throughout the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Arabs have been the majority of Iraq's population since Sassanid times.[6] Iraq was ruled by the indigenous empires, Sumerian, Akkadian,Babylonian, Assyrian and also by foreign empires; Median, Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanian empires during the Iron Age and Classical Antiquity, before Iraq was conquered by the Muslim Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century, and became a center of the Islamic Golden Age during the medieval Abbasid Caliphate. After a series of invasions and conquest by the Mongols and Turks, Iraq fell under Ottoman rule in the 16th century, intermittently falling under Iranian Safavid and Mamluk control. Ottoman rule ended with World War I, and Iraq came to be administered by the British Empire until the establishment of the Kingdom of Iraq in 1933. The Republic of Iraq was established in 1958 following a coup d'état. The Republic was controlled by Saddam Hussein from 1979 to 2003, into which period falls the Iran-Iraq war and the Persian Gulf War. Saddam Hussein was deposed following the 2003 US-led invasion of the country. Following the invasion, the situation deteriorated to the extent that in...
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...directed to the middle east in recent memory, particularly due to the longstanding battles between those under the Muslim faith. The battles that have lasting since the 1980’s as well as the involvement of external factors has shaped the socio-political structure of the Middle-East and has granted rise to various militant groups. The main focus of this paper will be spent on the Rise of the Islamic State: ISIS and the New Sunni Revolution. The paper will provide an analysis on the events based off the depictions provided by Cockburn, a war reporter from the inside of Iraq and Syria. Providing this point of view inside Iraq and Syria illustrates the corruption of governments, abuses of power and media deception. Cockburn starts off the first chapter with talking about the fall of Fallujah in January of 2014. This being a big victory for ISIS as Fallujah is located only forty miles from Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. He explains that the “war on terror” is failing since 9/11 and gives a prime example of President Obama asking for five-hundred million dollars to train the Syrian opposition and arm them with the proper equipment. This equipment however would end up in the hands of ISIS and be a key component to their victories. US allies such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar also provided weapons for the war that ended up in the hands of the enemy. Another major point the author talks about in chapter one is that the United States is potentially fighting the wrong enemy over the events...
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...actions and statement of past leaders in comparison to those in our present time. Consider the presidential elections. When people want to choose a new leader, they look at the past elections and see if the words of the candidates are being repeated. According to Peter Stearns, “learning how to combine different kinds of evidence allows one to develop the ability to coherent arguments based on a variety of data (Stearns, 2008).” Students that inspect the Iraq war should use the Vietnam War as a reference because it allows one to reflect, leading to an argument from the events. The war in Iraq started on March 3, 2003, when President Bush announced “the possibility of Saddam Hussein acquiring dangerous weapons,” posing a “direct threat to the United States (Wong, 2008).” A similar comparison can be made with the War in Vietnam; the United States entered the war to stop the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia. American leaders feared that Communist forces would gain control of Vietnam, and that nation after nation would fall to Communism. In a USA Today news analyst, Susan...
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...Gasoline, one of the main products refined from crude oil, accounts for just about 17 percent of the energy consumed in the United States. The primary use for gasoline is in automobiles and light trucks. Gasoline also fuels boats, recreational vehicles, and various farm and other equipment. While gasoline is produced year-round, extra volumes are made in time for summer driving season. Gasoline is delivered from oil refineries mainly through pipelines to a massive distribution chain serving estimated 168,987 retail gasoline stations throughout the United States. There are three main grades of gasoline: regular, mid-grade, and premium. Each grade has a different octane level. Price levels vary by grade, but the price different between grades is generally constant. The cost to produce and deliver gasoline to consumers includes the cost of crude oil to refiners, refinery processing costs, marketing and distribution costs, and finally the retain station costs and taxes. The price paid by consumers at the pump reflect these costs as well as the profits (and sometimes losses) of refiners, marketers, distributors, and retail station owners. Federal, State, and local taxes area large component of the retail price of gasoline. Taxes (not including county and local taxes) account for approximately 19 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline. (www.fueleconomy.gov) Why do gasoline prices fluctuate?-We seem to be wondering more often then not. Even when crude oil prices...
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...A World Apart Jackie Wolfe September 25, 2010 In the world there are several countries who conduct their correctional systems the same as the United States and then there are some who do just the opposite. The American correctional system is designed to incarcerate and try to rehabilitate offenders, if possible. I chose to compare the American correctional system with that of the Iraqi correctional systems. This paper will show the differences in the two. It will also show how the American correctional system is run in comparison to that of the Iraqi correctional system. The American correctional system is set up with different types of prisons. Most prisons are run by the state government although the United States does have federal prisons. The federal prisons are run by the federal government. In the United States, prisons are operated at various levels of security, ranging from minimum-security prisons that mainly house non-violent offenders to Supermax facilities that house well-known criminals and terrorists (DeMaille, 2007). In the United States, prisons house more than two million prisoners. The majority of criminals in the prison system are because of drugs and violent crimes. As of the end of August 2010, there were approximately 210,000 prisoners in federal prisons with about half of those for drug related crimes (BOP, 2010). In the United States there are two well-known federal penitentiaries. They are Alcatraz, which is closed...
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...in the article, “This Day in History,” “...the United States, along with coalition forces primarily from the United Kingdom, initiates war on Iraq. Just after explosions began to rock Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, U.S. President George W. Bush announced in a televised address, “At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.” At that moment, the United States had perceived themselves as a bully full of greed. Rather than “protecting the world from grave danger,” the U.S had utilized their strength and power to harm and intimidate Iraq. They have caused mass destruction on the land of Iraq, killing more than a million Iraqis to feed their craving for...
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...has been in the past. Less Developing Countries are often unindustrialized, economically instable, have an underdeveloped political system and have high levels of human health. LDCs have changed and evolved over the years as we move into the modern age. The purpose of this paper is to examine two developing countries (Vietnam and Iraq). I will focus on the three major problems that the two countries are experiencing in today's world that include political, economic and human rights. Despite the country’s political differences, they share some similarities; though much of the philosophy has been debated, there are points of value to both countries. This essay intends to study some of their most painful discover in their political philosophy. Vietnam Political The North and the South were divided politically in 1954 because of different economic ideologies. Communist was in the North and capitalist in the South. Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese revolutionary leader, who established the communist governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945. Ho Chi Minh became president of Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1945 to 1969. He died in 1969. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the Communist Party renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honor. In 1975, the Communist Party unified the North and South as one. The country’s communist leaders had adopted Marxist – and Leninist theories. The Communist Party then reestablished national sovereignty, initiated agrarian reform, and had gradually transformed...
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...extremists in neighboring Iraq. MORE Boy Found in Basement Says Dad Abused Him With Pipe NBC News What Happened When One Woman Had Her Picture Photoshopped In 25 Different Countries Huffington Post Disturbing Details: Dad Told Cops He Searched Hot Car Deaths NBC News Benghazi Suspect Flown to Washington to Face Judge NBC News Uruguay eliminates Italy; Did Suarez bite again? Sports Illustrated Obama sent Congress a $500 million request Thursday for a Pentagon-run program that would significantly expand previous covert efforts to arm rebels fighting both the Sunni extremists and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. The move that comes amid increased U.S. concern that the conflicts in Syria and Iraq are becoming an intertwined fight against the same Sunni extremist group. POPULAR AMONG SUBSCRIBERS Eat Butter Fat Time Magazine Cover Ending the War on Fat Subscribe The End of Iraq How Many People Watched Orange Is the New Black? No One Knows If approved by lawmakers, the program would in effect open a second front in the fight against militants with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, that is spilling over Syria’s border and threatening to overwhelm Iraq. “Obviously, in light of what has happened in Iraq, we have even more to talk about in terms of the moderate opposition in Syria, which has the ability to be a very important player in pushing back against ISIL’s presence and to have them not just in Syria, but also in Iraq,” Kerry said at the...
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...The Iraq War: An Avoidable Situation Introduction Iraq has generally never been a nation at peace, but that did not stop the United States from exacerbating those problems. Following the attacks of September 11 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003 the United States’ actions and counter terrorism strategy created an insurgency that set them up for a long and arduous war. Through what appeared to be a rushed planning process the United States entered Iraq and acted as if they wanted to worsen their situation. This paper will look at how the ordinances passed during the first year in Iraq, due to Paul Bremer’s lack of knowledge concerning counter-insurgency, made the United States government reconsider their strategy in Iraq. These actions combined with a growing resentment towards United States occupancy and Shi’a and Sunni insurgencies caused the United States to change its course of action towards counter-insurgency. The civil war that was beginning only added to the problem. Quickly, they wrote two new field manuals on counter-insurgency and with successful campaigns, led by General Petraeus, regained some stability in the war-torn nation. Background A decade before the War on Terror and the subsequent invasion of Iraq under the Bush regime, there was the Gulf War. Following the Iraqi defeat at the hands of a USA led, United Nations backed force there were strict sanctions placed on weapons, the military, and oil reserves in Iraq. Also, following this conflict, a wealthy...
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...after serving in Iraq and/or Afghanistan and instead of the providing them with proper treatment they are dismissed from service for misconduct. The story focused on SSG Eric James, an Army sniper who served two tours in Iraq. In 2013 the Army tried dismissing him for misconduct after an incident of drunk driving. To protect himself, SSG James began to secretly record his session with the mental health provider. His recordings sparked an investigation into how providers at Fort Carson are treating soldiers with mental illness and also the accusations that the Army is so quick to dismiss soldiers with mental health problem for misconduct instead of providing them with proper treatment. The investigation also brought to light the insensitivity of these providers whose purpose is to sympathize with soldiers and provide support and understanding; instead they undermined the significance of soldier’s traumatic experiences and mental illness. SSG James was told by health care providers that he was exaggerating his condition and because he is able to come to work and perform his soldierly duties meant that his condition is not as detrimental as he proclaimed. Investigation conducted by NPR (national Public radio) and CPR (Colorado Public Radio) revealed that the Army has been pushing out soldiers diagnosed with mental illness across the country. According to the article since 2009 the Army had separated 22,000 soldiers for “misconduct” after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and...
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