The Debate of Whether The Iraq War Was Justified

A subject which is still highly debated and discussed even today is the Iraq war. Many people were in favor of the Iraq war because of claims made by the U. S president George W, Busch. He claimed that in order to prevent another 9/11 or future terrorist attack something had to be done. Many were also worried about the chlorine and Phenol plants found in the Middle East that would produce weapons of mass destruction. On the other hand, many people debate that the Iraq war was not justified because of a confession from Gordon Brown that American misled Britain to go to war with Iraq over the threat of Saddam and that the threat of the Middle East was blown out of proportion. 

One of the many reasons why so many people were in favor of the Iraq war was because of the claims made by George W, Bush. He claimed that “The threat comes from Iraq. It arises from the Iraqi regime’s history of aggression and it drives toward an arsenal of terror” (Guardian). This view gained the support from the United Nations after a speech that Bush made in 2002 which stated “Today, these standards and this security are challenged. Our commitment to human dignity is challenged by persistent poverty and raging disease. The suffering is great. And our responsibilities are clear” this aided America to have a reason to declare war with Iraq (Guardian). America found it easy to do this as they hold a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council along with their allies in Britain. It appeared that Britain was just following along with what America did and sparked the debate on whether Tony Blair and Bush were war criminals (BBC). This backs up the next argument of many conspiracy theorists who believed that America deliberately caused 9/11 in order to go to war with Iraq over unjustifiable causes like the trade of oil and their differences in political and religious views. America denies having any prior knowledge of 9/11 before the attack although the terrorists who carried out the attacks were on the FBI terror watch list meaning that they thought these people may carry out an attack but had no evidence to back up their case (Documentary “Inside 9/11”). 

Another reason why people were in favor of the Iraq war is the worry people had over the chlorine and phenol plants found in Fallujah Iraq, 64. 4 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad. The effects of these chlorine and phenol include vomiting irritation to eyes, damage to lungs, liver and kidneys, heart and lungs (Wikipedia). Phenol also has the effects of twitching to muscles. To countries like Iraq these substances can be easily weaponized. However, people debate that the chlorine and phenol plants were being used to create basic cleaning items like disinfectant or for future surgical antiseptics and vaccines because phenol spray was often used to treat sore throats and caramex which is commonly used to treat pharyngitis. What these plants were actually used for is still up for debate today. 

Whilst there are so many people who were in favor of the Iraq war there are also those who opposed it. A reason why so many people were against it was because Gordon Brown is recorded stating “they didn’t tell us enough -we were misled by the pentagon” (The Sun) and also claims that “only after leaving office was when President George W Bush became aware of the critical papers that were being held by the department of defense.” This sparks a counter argument as if these document were so “critical” why where they not shown to the president especially after the 9/11 attacks? How did he get so much support from all over the world to go to war with Iraq?

Another reason why many people believe the Iraq war was not justified is because it was blown out of proportion and has sparked the argument over whether America used the P. N. A. C (Project of the New American Century) document as an excuse to go to war with Iraq over the threat made by Saddam to cut the oil trade with the United States. This shows we did not do it right because if all of this was over oil why did it lead to a huge war with millions of causalities? America has many allies throughout the word who are rich in oil like Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom with the oil rigs in the highlands of Scotland. The P. N. A. C was used because Iraq refused to co-operate with the United Nations which led to President Bush wanting to remove power from the country and have the country under American ownership until a new leader was found. Many say that having the country under the rule of the U. S. A was an attempt to steal Iraq’s oil. 

In conclusion, this topic is still highly debated with valid arguments on each side. For example, it may or may not have helped prevent future terror attacks and possibly could have eradicated the threat of terrorism on a global scale. Whereas on the other hand America may have misled Britain and the whole world on assumptions of what Iraq was doing on their own soil and as Iraq was on the brink of becoming a rogue nation America used the P. N. A. C document to help justify invasion of the state of Iraq which may have been to steal oil. I personally do not believe the Iraq war justified as I personally believe that Tony Blair is a war criminal and that Bush was only looking for legal way into the country.