Rayners College London Iraq War 10 Years Later Discussion Iraq War – 10+ Years Later Discussion Forum
Using “True” or “False” please respond to, and explain your position, on any 2 of the following statements.
It is justifiable to declare war on any nation producing weapons of mass destruction.
U.S. troops were withdrawn too early given reported ongoing violence in Iraq.
Because some individuals took false advantage of the standard refugee program by lying about working for U.S. forces, it is fair to those who deserve benefits that entering the U.S. is now much more difficult process.
I need a discussion post almost 1 page(250 words).
Attached below is the chapter from the text if you wanna skim it. An 9
19 niv 0th
23 ersa
-2 ry
0
CQ
Researcher
13
Published by CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc.
www.cqresearcher.com
The Iraq War:
10 Years Later
Was the war worth the cost in money and lives?
A
s the world marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S.led invasion of Iraq, the war is fast fading from the
memories of many Americans. After more than
eight years of combat, the U.S. and Iraqi govern-
ments couldn’t come to terms on keeping U.S. combat troops in
the country. They were withdrawn at the end of 2011 except for a
small contingent involved in training Iraqi forces. But Iraq remains
mired in sectarian and religious conflict. In the United States,
debates about the justification for the invasion have given way to
Six weeks after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003,
President George W. Bush stood on the deck of the USS
Abraham Lincoln beneath a banner reading “Mission
Accomplished” and told the crew, “The tyrant has
fallen, and Iraq is free.” The war lasted eight more
years and cost the lives of some 122,000 Iraqis and
nearly 4,500 U.S. military personnel. The banner,
suggested and hung by the crew, was printed
by the White House.
arguments about whether Iraq is a budding democracy — an objective of the George W. Bush administration — or a new dictatorship. That dispute intersects with the question of whether U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq will spur the country to solve its own
problems or push it into friendlier relations with its anti-American
neighbor, Iran.
I
N
S
I
D
E
CQ Researcher • March 1, 2013 • www.cqresearcher.com
Volume 23, Number 9 • Pages 205-232
THIS REPORT
THE ISSUES ………………..207
BACKGROUND …………….215
CHRONOLOGY …………….217
CURRENT SITUATION ……..221
AT ISSUE……………………225
OUTLOOK ………………….226
RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR
EXCELLENCE ◆ AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD
BIBLIOGRAPHY …………….230
THE NEXT STEP …………..231
THE IRAQ WAR: 10 YEARS LATER
THE ISSUES
207
• Did the mission succeed?
• Did the war boost Iran’s
regional and global power?
• Did the war weaken the
U.S. economy?
209
210
Civilian Deaths Track
Course of War
At least 122,000 Iraqi civilians
have died due to the war.
212
Iraq War Tab Approaches
$1 Trillion — At Least
Estimates range from
$806 billion to $3 trillion.
BACKGROUND
215
The Buildup
The Bush administration
said Iraq had weapons of
mass destruction.
216
Invasion
The U.S. military had hoped
for a quick exit from Iraq.
218
Insurgency and Politics
Sectarian strife erupted after
the U.S. occupation began.
220
Surge and Departure
Bush sent 20,000 extra
troops to quell the violence.
CURRENT SITUATION
221
224
Bombs and Repression
Iraq remains in a state of
low-level civil war.
Continuing U.S. Debate
Disagreements over Iraq
still affect U.S. politics.
OUTLOOK
226
208
Iraq and Iran Share a
Common Religious View
They are the only majorityShiite countries led by
Shiites.
Cover: AFP/Getty Images/Stephen Jaffe
206
213
215
CQ Researcher
Troop Levels Peaked
During ‘Surge’
Number of troops began
dropping in 2010.
Muslims Say U.S. Worsened
Sunni-Shiite Divide
Another factor was the ageold Arab-Persian rivalry.
217
Chronology
Key events since 2002.
218
Iraq Conflict Was a Costly
Learning Experience
“War should be the last resort, not the first.”
222
Doors Close on Iraqis
Who Aided U.S.
Thousands are in peril as
visa applications pile up.
225
At Issue:
Is Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki becoming a dictator?
Sectarian Strife
Some experts say Iraq will
remain violent.
SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS
Nearly 4,500 U.S. Military
Personnel Killed in Iraq
About 4,400 died in battle;
66 others died while training
Iraqi forces.
FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
229
For More Information
Organizations to contact.
230
Bibliography
Selected sources used.
231
The Next Step
Additional articles.
231
Citing CQ Researcher
Sample bibliography formats.
CQ Researcher
March 1, 2013
Volume 23, Number 9
MANAGING EDITOR: Thomas J. Billitteri
tjb@cqpress.com
ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR: Kathy Koch
kkoch@cqpress.com
SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR:
Thomas J. Colin
tcolin@cqpress.com
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Kenneth Jost
STAFF WRITER: Marcia Clemmitt
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Sarah Glazer,
Peter Katel, Barbara Mantel, Tom Price,
Jennifer Weeks
SENIOR PROJECT EDITOR: Olu B. Davis
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Darrell Dela Rosa
FACT CHECKER: Michelle Harris
EDITORIAL INTERN: Ethan McLeod
An Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc.
VICE PRESIDENT AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR,
HIGHER EDUCATION GROUP:
Michele Sordi
SENIOR DIRECTOR, ONLINE LIBRARY AND
REFERENCE PUBLISHING:
Todd Baldwin
Copyright © 2013 CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. SAGE reserves all copyright and other
rights herein, unless previously specified in writing.
No part of this publication may be reproduced
electronically or otherwise, without prior written
permission. Unauthorized reproduction or transmission of SAGE copyrighted material is a violation of
federal law carrying civil fines of up to $100,000.
CQ Press is a registered trademark of Congressional
Quarterly Inc.
CQ Researcher (ISSN 1056-2036) is printed on acidfree paper. Published weekly, except: (March wk. 5)
(May wk. 4) (July wk. 1) (Aug. wks. 3, 4) (Nov. wk.
4) and (Dec. wks. 3, 4). Published by SAGE Publications, Inc., 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91320.
Annual full-service subscriptions start at $1,054. For
pricing, call 1-800-818-7243. To purchase a CQ Researcher report in print or electronic format (PDF),
visit www.cqpress.com or call 866-427-7737. Single
reports start at $15. Bulk purchase discounts and
electronic-rights licensing are also available. Periodicals
postage paid at Thousand Oaks, California, and at
additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address
changes to CQ Researcher, 2300 N St., N.W., Suite 800,
Washington, DC 20037.
The Iraq War: 10 Years Later
BY PETER KATEL
THE ISSUES
the balance of power among
the region’s rival Sunni- and
Shiite-dominated nations and
decade after the Unitdriven Iraq — formerly led by
ed States invaded
Sunnis — into the arms of neighIraq, American comboring Iran, a Shiite-run theocbat troops are gone from the
racy that its mostly Sunni neighcountry, and Iraq no longer
bors and the international
dominates U.S. public life as
community want to keep from
it did for much of the 2000s.
acquiring nuclear weapons.
Yet fiery debates over the
Iran and the United States
war and its aftermath conhave been at odds since
tinue to smolder: Was the
1979, and Obama has led an
war worth the deaths of 4,475
international campaign to
U.S. troops and more than
toughen trade sanctions
$800 billion — so far — in
against Iran. He vowed in
American resources? 1 And
February to “do what is necdid President Obama make
essary to prevent them from
the right call by not pressgetting a nuclear weapon,”
ing harder to keep U.S. troops
indicating that military action
in Iraq?
is not off the table. 3 But
B a c ke r s o f t h e wa r,
some critics say Obama gave
launched by the George W.
up the chance to blunt Iran’s
Bush administration 10 years
power in the region by failago this month, insist it was
ing to convince the new Iraqi
necessary. “I am not apologovernment to accept a congetic about my advocacy for
tinuing U.S. military presence
the war,” says Michael Rubin,
in Iraq after 2011.
Iraqi Sunnis chant anti-government slogans against
a resident scholar at the con“We failed to take advanPrime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite-dominated
servative American Entertage of the surge,” says Peter
administration during a mass street demonstration in
prise Institute who worked
Mansoor, a retired Army
Baghdad on Feb. 8, 2013. American combat troops
in the Pentagon and Baghcolonel. Mansoor served as
pulled out of Iraq in December 2011, but religious and
ethnic tensions continue to plague Iraq, with bombings
dad as a member of the Bush
executive officer to Gen.
and shootings a persistent part of the political landscape.
administration during the war.
David Petraeus, commander
Rubin casts Iraq favorably as
of U.S. and allied forces in
Although debates that dominated Iraq during the so-called surge — when
moving toward a state of “messy democracy” after decades of repression under the buildup and early days of the war Bush controversially boosted U.S. troop
were resolved when Iraq was found levels in Iraq by 20,000. “I get the
former dictator Saddam Hussein.
But others see today’s Iraq in a far not to possess weapons of mass de- sense we don’t have any leverage,”
dimmer light. Paul Pillar, who emerged struction (WMDs), current debate over says Mansoor.
as a war critic after retiring as a se- the war focuses on Obama’s handling
As a result, Obama may have made
nior Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the conflict’s end. When the last it harder to curb Iran’s nuclear ambianalyst, says Iraq’s elected government U.S. combat troops left Iraq in De- tions, critics say, and given Iraqi Prime
is “moving quite a bit toward author- cember 2011, Obama, who won the Minister Nouri al-Maliki more reason
itarianism.” And he contends the war White House as the anti-Iraq War can- to rely on a country ruled by fellow
brought about one of the very dan- didate when the conflict was a hot conservative Shiites. “I think Maliki would
gers the Bush administration said it political issue, said he had fulfilled his say, ‘I’m going to put my bets on my
was trying to eradicate: the presence pledge to end the war, “responsibly” Iranian neighbor,’ ” says Mansoor, now
of al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq. “There and that “a new day is upon us.” 2
a professor of military history at Ohio
However, some critics say toppling State University’s Mershon Center for
was no al Qaeda in Iraq” before the
the Hussein dictatorship has altered International Security Studies.
war, Pillar says, “and now there is.”
AFP/Getty Images/Ahmad al-Rubaye
A
www.cqresearcher.com
March 1, 2013
207
THE IRAQ WAR: 10 YEARS LATER
Iraq and Iran Share a Common Religious View
Iraq and neighboring Iran are the only Muslim countries with
predominantly Shiite populations led by Shiites, who represent
15 percent of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims. The tiny Persian Gulf
kingdom of Bahrain — the only other Muslim country with a
majority-Shiite population — is ruled by Sunni sheiks. Lebanon and
Yemen have mixed Sunni-Shiite populations. In majority-Sunni
Syria, Sunni insurgents have been waging a two-year civil war
against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the
Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiism. Islam’s Sunni-Shiite split developed in the 7th century over who should succeed the Prophet
Muhammad. Sunnis believed the best qualified leader should
succeed him, while Shiites believed Muhammad’s blood descendants
were his rightful successors.
Branches of Islam in the Middle East
LEBANON
Caspian
Sea
SYRIA
AFGHANISTAN
IRAN
IRAQ
PAKISTAN
JORDAN
KUW.
BAHRAIN
Persian
Gulf
SAUDI
ARABIA
QATAR
INDIA
Gulf of Oman
U.A.E.
OMAN
Arabian Sea
Red
Sea
YEMEN
Middle East Religions
Predominantly Sunni
Predominantly Shiite
Mixed Sunni-Shiite
Map by Lewis Agrell
Source: John R. Bradley, “The Ancient Loathing Between Sunnis and Shi’ites Is
Threatening to Tear Apart the Muslim World,” Daily Mail, March 2011, www.daily
mail.co.uk/debate/article-1367435/Middle-East-unrest-Sunni-Shiite-conflictthreatens-tear-Muslim-world-apart.html
Al-Maliki has reason to feel comforted by the presence of a friendly
neighbor. Iraq is suffering a continuing
plague of suicide and vehicle bomb
attacks — al Qaeda trademarks. At least
150 people died in such attacks so far
208
CQ Researcher
this year, either individually or in groups
targeted by bombers. Individual victims
included a member of Iraq’s parliament.
(See “Current Situation.”) 4
Optimists point out that the violence,
though persistent, remains at a level far
below what it was in 2007, when the
surge began. (See graphic, p. 213.) The
move was aimed at suppressing escalating violence and preparing the government to assume responsibility for
the country’s security. For the United
States, the surge sharply reduced American casualties in Iraq and paved the
way for the withdrawal of U.S. forces. 5
Some experts say Obama was correct in ending the military presence
because the surge succeeded. Douglas
Ollivant, an Army veteran of the war
who also served as Iraq director on
the National Security Council during
the Bush and Obama administrations,
says, “When you overthrow a state and
start to rebuild, it’s going to be a job
of decades.” Ollivant, currently a senior national security fellow at the
New American Foundation think tank,
says Iraq today “is what victory in one
of these operations looks like — and
it’s not very pretty.”
But others, including some who
share Ollivant’s on-the-ground experience, see the picture getting uglier.
“The war is not over,” says Lt. Col.
Joel Rayburn, an Army intelligence officer who served in Iraq and is now
a research associate at the National
Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies in Washington.
Last year, he notes, about 4,500
civilians died violently in Iraq, 400
more than the year before. 6 That is
a far cry from the nearly 27,000 civilians who died violently at the peak
of the war — the 12 months that
ended in March 2007. 7 But Rayburn
still argues that today’s level of violence “meets the textbook definition
of civil war.” And, he adds, “It will be
higher this year, mark my words.”
Even at its lower level, the violence
reflects the religious and ethnic divisions that marked the Iraq War and
continue to fester. Victims of the masscasualty suicide bombings this year
largely fell into three categories: civilian Shiites; police officers of the Shiitedominated government; and Sunni mili-
tia who had once fought the U.S. occupation and Iraqi government but
gave up their insurgency and turned
against al Qaeda. 8
In pre-invasion Iraq, Shiites were
relegated to second-class status. Iraq’s
ruling Baath Party, along with top military and security officials, was dominated by members of the Sunni branch
of Islam, Hussein among them. (Hussein’s regime was secular. The new
Iraq is non-sectarian in principle, with
freedom of religion and women’s equal
rights guaranteed, but Shiite religious
leaders have powerful though informal influence on government). 9
When American military officers realized that some Sunni insurgents were
growing hostile to al Qaeda, the United States adopted a counterinsurgency
strategy aimed at turning the Sunni
fighters into U.S. allies and full-fledged
participants in building the new Iraq.
Whether that realignment survives
the U.S. withdrawal is not clear. American officials poured enormous effort
into persuading Iraqis to make their
new government represent the country’s religious and ethnic diversity. Accordingly, Prime Minister al-Maliki is
Shiite, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi
is Sunni and President Jalal Talabani is
a Kurd (a Muslim people for whom
their non-Arab ethnicity is more key to
their identity than religious affiliation).
Talabani suffered a stroke in December and is being treated in Germany. 10 Al-Hashimi fled the country
in 2011 after al-Maliki accused him
of commanding a death squad that
assassinated government officials and
police officers. Al-Hashimi was later
sentenced to death in absentia and
now lives in Turkey, a majority-Sunni
country that has refused to extradite
him. In Iraq, Sunnis saw the case as
part of an anti-Sunni campaign by
al-Maliki. 11
In another reflection of ethno-religious
tensions, al-Hashimi had earlier taken
up refuge in a semi-autonomous northern region that is home to the coun-
www.cqresearcher.com
Nearly 4,500 U.S. Military Personnel Killed in Iraq
More than 4,400 U.S. military personnel died and nearly 32,000
were injured in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the U.S. combat mission in
Iraq. An additional 66 died and nearly 300 were injured in a sequel
mission, Operation New Dawn. It ran from September 2010 until
Dec. 15, 2011, and focused on training and advising Iraqi security
forces. A small number of U.S. military personnel remain in Iraq.
U.S. Military Casualties in Iraq War
35,000
31,926
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
4,409
13
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Source: Department of Defense casualty
figures, February 2013, www.defense.
gov/news/casualty.pdf
try’s Kurdish minority, who had also
refused to turn him over.
Though tensions and conflicts between and within the country’s sects
and ethnic groups (which include small
populations of Turkmen and Christians) loom large in Iraq, they had
gotten little official notice during the
U.S. buildup to war.
Instead, debate centered on intelligence reports that Iraq was storing
weapons of mass destruction (WMDs),
attempting to acquire nuclear arms and,
in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, possibly
harboring links to al Qaeda. “We don’t
want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud,” National Security Adviser (later Secretary of State) Condoleezza
Rice said in 2002, representing the
Bush administration doctrine that the
post-9/11 world didn’t allow the United States to require 100 percent certainty before taking military action
against a potential threat. 12
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
295
66
0
Operation New Dawn
Military personnel deaths
Department of Defense civilian deaths
Military personnel wounded in action
But even before the Iraq invasion’s
one-year anniversary, exhaustive onthe-ground searches discredited the
information about WMDs and nuclear
weapons. (See “Background.”) And
Pillar — the intelligence community’s
top Middle East analyst in 2000-2005
— rocked Washington after retiring in
2006 when he said that spy agencies’
WMD information had not been as
definitive as the administration claimed
when it launched the war.
“Intelligence was misused publicly
to justify decisions already made,” Pillar wrote. 13
Specifically, some CIA analysts had
expressed considerable skepticism
about Hussein’s alleged al Qaeda
links — skepticism later validated by
the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — but Bush administration officials had declared the connections a reality that added to the
Iraq regime’s perceived danger to
Americans. 14
March 1, 2013
209
THE IRAQ WAR: 10 YEARS LATER
Civilian Deaths Track Course of War
Estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths vary widely, depending on the
organization collecting the data and the nature and circumstances
of the fatalities. Iraq Body Count, a British organization that crosschecks media reports with hospital and morgue records, government
reports and other information, estimates that 122,000 Iraqi civilians
have died since 2003 as a result of the U.S.-led military intervention
in Iraq. Some deaths stemmed from direct military action, while others
were the result of terror attacks or sectarian violence. Deaths peaked
in 2006 as violence between Sunni and Shiite factions escalated,
then declined sharply after additional U.S. troops were deployed in
what was called the “surge.” Civilian deaths have edged up during
the past two years but remain far below the 2006 peak.
Iraqi Civilian Deaths related to the
U.S.-led military intervention in Iraq, 2003-present
35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
AFP/Getty Images/Safin Hamed
0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013*
* 265, through Jan. 31
Source: “Documented Civilian Deaths From Violence,” Iraq Body Count, February
2013, www.iraqbodycount.org/database/
Once U.S. troops, with some help
from Britain and other allies, had toppled the dictatorship, post-invasion
problems upended Bush administration forecasts of a quick war and a
peace…
Purchase answer to see full
attachment