Humanitarian Intervention in Iraq Essay

In March of 2003 the United States of America invaded the Middle easterly nation of Iraq. Under many an(prenominal) pretenses, the stage was being set for this impingement, whiz reason c all tolding for the usurpation was that Bush administration and its officials assured the origination that the ibn Talal ibn Talal ibn Talal Hussein regime was producing weapons of atomic pile destruction or WMDs, which would mould a huge security threat to all the nations around the world. some other being the occurrence that Hussein supported the group responsible for the attacks on our inelegant on September 11th 2001, which angered plenty of Americans and ostensibly onlyified violence to be used. And similarly the fact that Hussein requisite to be removed from power as he was a brute(a) dictator who was committing egregious acts of violence against his own lot. Therefore a humanitarian intervention would be called for victimization militaristic means. The administration under(a) electric chair Bush pushed the idea on the American people and the world that Iraq would be a better place without Hussein in control, similarly devising the world a safer place. This war has cost the lives of approximately 600,000 Irakis and 3,163 American soldiers, non to mention other soldiers from other nations involved in the conflict.The runs leading up to the succeeding invasion and occupation affected Iraq negatively and caused consequences that harmed all of Iraqi society, mainly frank people. The way the world dealt with Saddam Hussein wasnt proper nor in the best interests going forward for the Iraqi people and the citizens of the world based on many factors. Years before boots were level(p) on the ground in Iraq, the world had interpreted extreme locomote to curb Iraqi assault, most nonably beginning in 1990 when Iraq invaded its neighbor capital of Kuwait in August. There were many reasons why Iraq may exhaust invaded Kuwait. Some say that it was because Kuwait was stealing Iraqi oil and fifty-fifty the fact that Iraq owed Kuwait large sums of m aney after the Iran-Iraq war. But virtuoso of the very first steps that were taken was that the United Nations (UN) became heavily involved. The UN includes the UN tri neverthelesse Council (UNSC) which is the group that has control over UN host force and is in indicate of implementing resolutions against regimes that may be breaking planetary law.The first resolution vagabond in place against Iraq was UNSC 678, which was implemented secure a few eld after the Iraqi Revolutionary Guard invaded the country. UNSC 678 authorized force against Iraq, to prove it from Kuwait and to restore peace and security in the area. This action was coherent through with(predicate) all necessary means including use of the military. This was known as the Gulf War, alone UNSC 678 only applied to the actions taken in 1990 through 1993 and does not include the intervention in 2003 by American and conj unction forces. Next was UNSC resolution 1154, passed in 1998 and which mandated that Iraq was not allowed to be in monomania or manufacture chemical, biological, or nuclear weaponry. This resolution also express that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its inspectors were required to inspect Iraqs suspected nuclear and weapons manufacturing facilities.Iraq did not completely comply with the resolution because they did not allow unrestricted access with what the IAEA inspectors wanted to see. This was seen as a queer move to much of the world and as if the Hussein regime had something to hide. A final model to Iraq was issued in 2002 in UNSC resolution 1441, which was the last warning to the Hussein regime to comply with the demands of the previous UNSC resolutions and limit their weapons capabilities. In Alex Contes book, Operation Iraqi Freedom he secerns that, Resolutions 678, 687, 1441, and 1154 do not allow use of force in Iraq (Conte 139-162). There are onl y a select few instances in which the UNSC authorizes the use of force, one being if the feel all necessary means and measures is used in the resolution or if a member give in of the UN is granted a mandate for action in another state and it is approved by the UNSC. Wording for many of these resolutions was very controversial between representatives of various nation states on the UNSC, regarding what powers one could legally take.But overall none of these UNSC resolutions approved of any military action to be taken in Iraq humanitarian or not in 2003 so in other words, all of the military actions that were taken were not legal in any form and against international law. The frugal sanctions against Iraq also heavily affected the country before it was invaded by the densification forces in 2003. Iraqs devastation is not primarily the result of American bombing only when the economic crisis that befell the country before the first fissure was fired (Rieff 185). The sanctions dis place on Iraq were int demiseed to hurt the Hussein regime, but in fact they just hurt the people under Husseins rule and put the entire Iraqi economy into solemn condition. The sanctions were a response to Iraqs invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and reportedly used as a deterrent to Husseins aggression in the area, but the people hurt most by the sanctions were innocent Iraqis. From 1991 until 2003 the effects of governance policy and the sanctions led to hyperinflation, widespread poverty, and malnutrition (Dodge 706). This goes to commemorate the negative effects that the sanctions had on the citizens of Iraq.Also mentioned in Rieffs book, Democratic Dreams and gird Intervention At the Point of a Gun, is the fact that daily livelihood-time was getting harder for Iraqis and their ability to receive the same genuines as they had before the sanctions hurt drastically Before the sanctions Iraq imported 70% of its food, medicine, and chemicals, UNSC resolution 661 stopped all of that (Rieff 187). These facts made the Iraqi citizens hate the crippling sanctions that were being placed on them because of the aggression of just their dictatorial leader. Many scholars believe that the sanctions made smell already under a brutal dictator til now to a greater extent constrained and restrictive. Iraq before the sanctions was a very strong welfare state just like many of the oil rich nations of the Middle easterly which gave pensions to their citizens based on oil income, about 40% of Iraqi households were reliant on disposal payment (Dodge 709).But because of the sanctions that same forty pct had to find other ways to receive income in a declination economy. Many citizens such as Khaled Afra, a student opposed the sanctions just as they opposed the rule of Hussein, Saddam was a criminal, the biggest. But the sanctions were also criminal You see the sanctions really crushed our dreams not my personal dreams only, but those of my Iraqi people, all of us (Rieff 193 ). Hussein did use the sanctions to his advantage though he used them as premise to form Iraqi unrestricted opinion against the sanctions, the various governments of the West, and the United Nations. Huge propaganda campaigns began in the country and in a way were very successful, Hussein, for example, would convince his people that in fact he wasnt evil and it was the nations of the West that were evil as they placed the sanctions on Iraq to try and starve innocent Iraqis. Hussein even hold to the Food for Oil program, which helped relieve some of the pressure and troubles faced by civilians as a result of the sanctions.The program allowed Iraq to sell its oil not for money but for food, medicine, and other supplies that were exceedingly commanded in Iraq at the time. Iraqi citizens loved this and praised Hussein for going through and agreeing with the program. A highly questioned component of the sanctions placed on the regime is why did they last so long? As mentioned earlier , the sanctions began right after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 but yet they didnt end until 2003 when the American invasion of Iraq began. Most in the international community believed that the sanctions shouldve ceased to outlast after the Gulf War was over or maybe just for a few more years after Iraqi forces were pushed out of Kuwait, but not for a wide of the mark thirteen years. Even many Arab nations who supported the sanctions at first believed that they should bemuse been removed after Iraq left Kuwait (Rieff 190).Most nations, even those who were against the Hussein regime saw the sanctions being in place after Iraq was ejected from Kuwait as unnecessary, cruel, and throwing salt on the wounds of a nation. The sanctions just made life worse for the regular citizens of Iraq, but the worst was yet to come. One good thing that may have come out of the sanctions is the fact that they did counter the Hussein regime from obtaining or creating any weapons of mass destruction be cause the country just could not afford the types of technology needed to do so. other factor that made conditions even worse for Iraq was the failed planning and research that shouldve been accomplished before the invasion of the country. Fear that Iraq was developing a weapon of mass destruction became sufficiently unbearable to Bush and Congress that they launched and supported a preemptive war based on a poorly delineate threat (Sheenan 6).For one many were forced to believe that Hussein was in possession of WMDs which he wasnt, therefore that threat did not even exist at all and should be exempt from reasons to invade and occupy the country. Planners of the invasion came up with a plan to oust Hussein from power using what they referred to as the decapitation thesis. The decapitation thesis is just as tangible as it sounds, remove the head of the government, referring to Hussein and other high be Baath party officials, and continue to use the body, which would be the insti tutions still under state control, as the head is replaced with new leadership. But the plan did not work as it was supposed to after Hussein was ousted the country just fell into a power vacuum. Who would the people turn to for leadership? Because Iraq no longer had very strong state institutions, they were collapsed and were no longer on the job(p) since the country was invaded. In the space of two years, because of invasion and then state collapse, Iraq went from Rogue, the first category of problematic state, to the second, collapsed.Although military intervention into Rogue states has take increasingly common since the Cold War, it has to date been largely unsuccessful (Dodge 706). This goes to show that largely based on the past and places in similar situations that Iraq was ordain to fail. And besides the fact that the planners didnt fully investigate the situation it seemed that they have even had other objectives besides the ones being expressed to the public. For exam ple, In April 2006, U.S. secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited Baghdad to intervene in internal discussions about the government and to seek assurances that any future government would allow the United States to preserve its military bases in Iraq (Arnove 116). Why would the U.S. need to establish bases in Iraq if the primary goal was humanitarian and to free the quash people under the Hussein regime?Humanitarian intervention was also a huge factor in why the invasion and subsequent occupation was being justified in Iraq. Humanitarian interventions are ordinarily mandated and put in place at the request of the legitimate government that needs the intervention. In this font the government of Iraq would have needed to explicitly ask outside powers to intervene, in which they did not. The Security Council did not approve the invasion and the Iraqi government its existence on the line, violently opposed it (Roth 1). The Hussein regime o pposed such an intervention obviously because it would signal an end to their rule. Even if it was to be a humanitarian intervention by the rules of international law the leaders accused of the alleged crimes against humanity should be brought on trial by the International Criminal Court (ICC). This was not the case for Iraq none of the high ranking Baath party officials including Hussein were even tried.