Sam Feldman
The Iraq War and September 11th
Before
Debs and Monteiro highlight possible theories about the causes of the Iraq War,
they first include that no theory can provide a complete explanation of a
phenomenon as complex as war. This is
completely true- however; they make several arguments linking the Iraq War to
the attacks on our country on September 11th, which is a completely
misguided theory all together.
Their argument
that going into Iraq was more likely following the attack on the World Trade Center
is extremely irrelevant. Just because
Iraq is an Arab nation shouldn’t give us any more of a reason to go to war with
them, as opposed to North Korea (as stated in the article). Perhaps the most noteworthy counter-argument
to Debs and Monteiro’s theory is that in 2006, George W. Bush, The President of
the United States at the time, said publicly on national T.V that Iraq had
nothing to do with the attack on 9/11.
He followed that statement by saying nobody in his administration has
ever suggested that Saddam Hussein ordered the attacks. Having this information, it seems very
difficult to make a case connecting the two events. There was barely sufficient evidence that
Iraq had any significant ties with Al-Qaeda. Let me be clear, I completely understand Debs
and Monteiro’s theory that a war against Iraq was more likely after 9/11 and it
even makes sense to an extent, but there’s just not enough conclusive evidence
in the facts just to back the theory up.
Simply, we went
into Iraq because at the time, there was a fear that weapons of mass
destruction were in the hands of a madman and we felt the need to end Saddam
Hussein’s power and support for injustice.
Although it turns out he didn’t have WMD’s, he did however have the
capacity to make them. We also couldn’t
imagine a world with Saddam Hussein in power, as he was a threat to human
lives, with all of the human suffering going on in Iraq then.
Having said that,
there may be one theory I believe that could possibly link the events of
September 11th and the Iraq War that Debs and Monteiro did not
mention in their article. Since the Bush
administration could not find Osama Bin Laden or anyone responsible for the
attacks following 9/11, the American people were getting frustrated with the government,
as we wanted an answer and retaliation for the tragedy that killed 3,000 of our
citizens. The Bush administration
diverted the attention of this by invading Iraq and taking down Saddam Hussein
and consequently, many American citizens would then subconsciously link the 2
events. I don’t necessarily believe this theory, but it definitely proves to be
somewhat true as many Americans still either don’t know why we invaded Iraq or think
that it was because Iraq was responsible for 9/11, which is clearly not the
case.
Debs and
Monteiro’s theory linking the attacks on our country on September 11th
and the Iraq War appears to be a common misconception. There are several convincing facts that
exhibit no clear connection between the two separate events. On the surface,
there seems as if there may be a correlation, but when you dive deeper into the
information, 9/11 and the Iraq War merely have nothing to do with each other.
While I agree with your point that the two events may not have a direct connection, I think that you undermine the heightened threat of security in the US following the 9/11 attacks had a lot to do with it. You address in your article that we felt we needed end Saddam's power and reign of injustice, but I think we also linked Saddam directly to the facilitation of terrorism in the world, and felt it was an appropriate time to take out that negative force in the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good argument that 9/11 and the Iraq war are unrelated, however I agree with Sarah that although the two events may not have a direct correlation, the September 11th attacks threatend our nation's physical and ontological security making the decision to invade easier once it was suspected that Iraq posssess WMD. While the 9/11 attack surely were not the sole factor in launching an attack on Iraq, their effects on the United States provoked the desire to strike a preventative war so our nation would not experience a similar event.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't agree with the argument that the US invaded Iraq because of the threat of WMDs, I do agree with your argument that the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and the Iraq war were not connected. Because the government clearly came out and explained that they weren't linked, I think it is wrong for Debs and Monteiro to have an argument connecting the two events.
ReplyDelete