War in Iraq, 2003. Why did we invade, whats happened over the years, what's going on now.
We, the USA, under the Bush Administration, along with the United Kingdom, chose to invade Iraq in 2003 because of the possibility that Iraq was making, or simply had, weapons of mass destruction. Another of our motives was the previously declared War on Terror. We checked for the weapons, asked Iraq to get rid of them if they had any, but Iraq denied their existence. They did, however agree to an inspection in 2002. No weapons were found despite prior evidence to the contrary.
Since the initial invasion, we have occupied Iraq and some of the surrounding countries, like Afghanistan. We eventually rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein (caught on December 13, 2003), and have since set up a democracy of sorts (first elections in 2005). However, there were many battles before and afterwards thanks to coalition opposition, etc.
In late spring of 2006, a more permanent form of government took office with the approval of the Iraqi National Assembly. Opposition remained, though, from those who did not wish to see democracy take foot in their country.
In 2007, the Bush administration issued recovery help to Iraq, with job opportunities and money for rebuilding - along with thousands more American soldiers. Also during this year, a timetable for withdrawal was supposed to be set up. (One was, actually, but of course it was postponed, as we still have troops in Iraq.) Terrorist bombings continued, along with the worst string of suicide bombings of the war, in which 800 civilians were killed; the attack was from al-Qaeda. But, even with all the fighting still happening and tensions rising with nearby countries, the increase of troops certainly had a positive impact for us.
The next year saw the Iraqi Civil War (begun in 2006) rather unchanged. The Iraqi army was getting stronger and more confident, but they gained little leeway.
2009; Obama is now President of the United States, and he wants to remove troops from Iraq by 2010. So, troops were sent over to Iraq to help train guards and soldiers for the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Security Force. This was approved by the Iraqis, as they really wanted to see us leave. Actually, they really REALLY wanted us to get out of their country. On April 9th, the 6th anniversary of the US invasion, protests ensued at Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. (We had not left yet because, of course, if we left while their new government was unstable, the al-Qaeda would probably take over.)
Later in April, the United Kingdom withdrew their troops. In July, Australia also backed out. At this point, it was mostly up to us. We finally began packing up and moving out from June-November.
2010. New title for operations in Iraq- from Operation Iraqi Freedom, to Operation New Dawn. In this year, we eliminated an al-Qaeda leader (we had already killed one during the duration of the war), a good step forward in stopping terrorism. And still, there are bombings. But, we are pulling troops, even though there is still some violence, and Iraq is becoming more self-reliant. On the downside, the [Sunni] Awakening Council may have switched back over to the insurgency side.
Right now: the situation is the same. We still have troops in Iraq, although more and more are coming back home. There is still tension, al-Qaeda is still a threat, and Iraq still needs help- even if they don't want it. We are definitely not their favorite country.
My opinion: do I have one? I think, yeah, they need help. There are some real wackos over there, you know? But then again, we've been over there for several years now. Guess I'm of a neutral opinion here.
Sources:
http://www.insightonconflict.org/conflicts/iraq/?gclid=COuO2bzm3qgCFaRl7Aodw1er0g
Comments