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Thursday, September 3, 2009

Politics - The Iraq War



The war in Iraq has been going on for a very long time. The war began on the 20th of March 2003 and is still in operation till today. Iraq was invaded by a multinasional force led by the troupes from United States and also United Kingdom without any declaration of war. The US military referred to it as Operation Iraqi Freedom.


The reason for their invasion is the thought that Iraq is in possession of WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction). Although the United Nations weapon's inspector found no evidence of WMD in Iraq, the US government stated that " diplomacy has failed " and decided to go to war.



Besides that, some US officials accused Iraq's president, Saddam Hussein of harboring and supporting Al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorist group. However, there is also no evidence on this statement. Other reasons for the invasion as stated by US officials include Iraq's financial support for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, Iraqi government human rights abuses and an effort on part of the coalition forces to spread democracy in the country and region. Some also admitted that Iraq's oil reserves were also the factors of invasion, but they later denied the statement.



The invasion led to the capture of President Hussein, who was later executed by the new Iraq government. Violence against coalition forces and among sectarian groups led to Iraq insurgency, strife between Sunni and Shia groups and al-Qaeda operations in Iraq. The number of citizens killed during the 2007 war is estimated to be 85000 civillians minimum to 1000000 people. UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) eatimated that 4.7 million Iraqis were found, 2 million of whom fled to neighbouring countries. In June 2008, US Department of Defense officials claimed security and economic indicators began to show signs of signs of improvement in what they hailed as significant and fragile gains. Iraq was fifth on the Failed States Index in August 2008.











The war brought many sadness and disadvantages to the country. There has been many deaths,
children, adult and the elderly all included. Those that survived lived a sufferable life, everyday they need to protect themselves and also their families from the terrible attacks. They are deprived from their homes and most of the time suffer great famine. Furthermore, the education of children have to be halted and many of their buildings are destroyed. A lot of money are spent in trying to provide for the citizens needs, but it is not enough. Truly, their sufferings cannot be understood by those who led perfect lives to this day.




However, the coalition start
ed to decrease beginning 2004 when 9 countries, including Spain, pulled out their forces, and later withdrawals have continued leaving US as the sole country with troops on the ground by mid-2009. In the late 2008, the US and Iraq governments have approved a Status of Forces Agreement which is effective until 1st January 2012. Besides that, the Iraq parliament also ratified a Strategic Framework Agreement with US to ensure cooperation in constitutional rights, threat deterrance, education, energy development and other areas of concern.



In late February 2009, the new US president Barrack Obama, announced an 18 month withdrawal window for "combat forces", leaving behind 30000 to 50000 troops to "advise and train Iraqi Security Forces" and to provide intelligence and surveillance. General Ray Odierno believes that all of US troops will be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, although the combat operations ended on April 30,2009. Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, supported the accelerated pullout of US army. In this situation, it is hoped that the people of Iraq will finally achieved a state of peace after being in war for so long.



 


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