Introduction
The war in Iraq is one of the biggest mistakes America did in modern times. Now, that we have our troops in Iraq and former dictator Saddam Hussein is dead, do Americans feel more secure today than before the Sept 11 incident? The answer is no. The United States of America has now fewer allies in the world today. Because of our irrational decision to go Iraq, we have lost many of our precious allies who stood by us during the first Gulf war such as Germany. The war in Iraq did not solve the primary problem that we have, which is Al Qaeda and Bin Laden. Now, instead of reducing the influence of Al Qaeda, it even grown in numbers. The present White House administration is fighting the war on terrorism on a different front. Common sense states that Bin laden is in Afghanistan-Pakistan border and not in Iraq. Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the Sept 11 attack; it was Al Qaeda.
What are we fighting about?
The Iraq war simply did not solve anything about the problem terrorism; on the contrary, it even triggered an all-new anti-American sentiment around the world especially among Islamic nations. These anti-American sentiments only breed more Al Qaeda recruits.
One good reason why Iraq war is unnecessary is that it does not fulfill our main objective, which is to destroy Al Qaeda and Bin Laden in particular so that it will not attack America again like the Sept 11 attack.
“The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, one of Britain’s leading think-tanks”, has reported that Al-Qaeda still has the ability to master plan and executes massive terrorist attacks on cities in the Western world with the evidence of new terror plots against Europe and other major cities around the world. (Suroor, 2007).
Furthermore, it reported that instead of reducing its force or members, Al Qaeda in fact “was expanding its influence with several regional jihadist groups signing up to its “global objectives”. The trend was towards increasing Islamist “radicalisation”, it pointed out. “The bottom line is that for six years, the United States and its allies have been struggling to eliminate this threat [from al-Qaeda] and it is becoming increasingly clear that they have not succeeded in doing so,” Nigel Inkster, a former MI6 director, who contributed to the report, said”. (Suroor, 2007).
With this report, we can conclude that the Iraq war did not reduce the size or capability of Al Qaeda and Bin Laden in particular which our main objective after Sept 11 incident. Moreover, Nigel Inkster “warned that Al-Qaeda had both the “ambition and to some degree, the capability, to stage a spectacular operation”. His chilling reply was: “both” when asked whether Al-Qaeda had become stronger since 9/11 and whether it had the capacity to launch a 9/11-style operation”. (Suroor, 2007).
US military is much weaker now
Another good reason for not fighting the Iraq war is that we have a weaker military now as compared during the cold war. Of course, this was due to the ending of the cold war. The war in Iraq and the region in particular is a very volatile place and we don’t know how long this war will drag the US military into. We still have military operations in different parts of the world such as Afghanistan. “We ought to listen to the generals and other military experts, including Colin Powell, Brent Scowcroft, Anthony Zinni, and Norman Schwarzkopf, who are now advising us NOT to go to war. Some have even cautioned against the possibility of starting World War III. They understand that our troops have been spread too thin around the world, and it is dangerous from a purely military standpoint to go to war today”. (Paul, 2002)
Another good reason of not going into war in Iraq is the present state of US economy. It will cause serious problem with our economy. “It is estimated that this venture into Iraq may well cost over a hundred billion dollars. Our national debt right now is increasing at a rate of over $450 billion yearly, and we are talking about spending another hundred billion dollars on an adventure when we do not know what the outcome will be and how long it will last?” (Paul, 2002) As of writing time, the Iraq war is costing about $460,981,220,221 (The War in Iraq Costs, n.d.).
Regional Instability
Another good reason for going into war in Iraq is regional instability. Recently, Turkey is considering intrusion into Northern Iraq in order to chase after rebel Kurds which is terrorizing Turkey. This will only widen the conflict in the region as well as undermine the volatile alliance between United States and Turkey.
Conclusion
The wart in Iraq is wrong from the beginning; we should have finished the Al Qaeda first in their territory along Afghanistan-Pakistan border before attacking other tar gets. Iraq and Saddam Hussein should have been considered as secondary target.
References
“The War in Iraq Costs “ n.d. 2007. Web.
Suroor, Hasan 2007 Al-Qaeda has grown stronger, says study by British security expert.
The Hindu. Friday, 2007. Web.
Paul, Ron, 2002. Arguments Against a War in Iraq. 2007.