Today in class we discussed the current situations in Iraq and Afghanistan and how they came to be. Were we forced to go to war, or did we choose to go to war?
In regards to Iraq, I believe we choose to go to war. Our justifications were that Sadddam needed to be taken out of power and they had weapons of mass destruction. Saddam had been a terrible dictator for decades. He was well know for his ruthlessness and killing thousands of his own citizens. In 1991, he even invaded Kuwait, and we stopped him. But we didn't take him out of power then. Why now? Personally I believe George Bush chose to invade Iraq because of personal interests. People have speculated that he had a grudge against Saddam for an assassination attempt on his father. Weapons of mass destruction was a total disaster. Plain and simple, there are none.
The conflict in Afghanistan was also a war of choice. I am anti-war, and I believe although we were attacked, we should not strike back. Ghandi once said that "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind." This mentality of striking back whenever we are struck is going to destroy the world. We cannot keep fighting everyone and trying to be the world police. Instead of invading Iraq, I believe we should have made drastic changes on how we live here in America. Tightening our security all around would help keep terrorists out of our country, preventing them from another attack.
But since we have invaded both Irag and Afghanistan, we now must deal with the consequences. The facts are:
As of today, there are 3837 American deaths in Iraq. (1) In 2006, the war has wiped out about 655,000 Iraqis or more than 500 people a day since the U.S.-led invasion. (2) It is estimated that the war has cost Americans 462 billion dollars. (3) Iraq has become a haven for terrorists and Al-queda has strenghtened not weakened. (4) Not to mention that this war has destablized the middle east, and people hate America more than ever.
These consequences are inevitable. If we enter a war without thinking through everything, many negative things arise. Most of the things on the list are not irreverisble, and if they are, it could be very difficult to change them back. The lives lost can never be replaced. The global American image could take time to increase. Rebuilding a government from scratch is also not so easy. If we never went to war, everything would be easier. There are so many consequences for a war, that why would we ever choose to go to war?
Sources:
1. Iraq Coalition Casuality Count, October 24 2007
2. CNN.com, October 11 2006
3. NationalPriorities.com
4. Washington Post, September 24 2006
1 comment:
I agree that America has chosen to go to war, not been forced to. There are many Americans, such as yourself, that oppose the war but the government still decided to go through with it. As the days go by more Americans are killed and more respect is lost. To answer your last question I think we go to war to show our strength as a country and that we are not intimidated. I dont agree with going to war but i guess that is just the war it is.
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