A sociological research paper about the Iraq War

The war in Iraq is clearly an unjustified act of war. Though it must be conceded that hindsight has made this more clear than it was to begin with (nobody knew at the time that they were looking at faulty intelligence), there was still no truly justifiable basis for entering into war that has cost us greatly, both in terms of human life and in terms of finances.

The Bush Administration felt as if Saddam and his two sons were potential terrorists and that possible militaristic action may need to be taken. That possibility increased when Iraq refused to let the weapon inspectors test for weapons of mass destruction. This directly led to a United States preparation for an Invasion of Iraq. Once Bush's deadline expired, forces of US and British troops invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, which eventually lead to the collapse of the Iraqi government (Savoy 16). If the US felt threatened by the fact that inspectors were not allowed to search for weapons of mass destruction, the government should not have resorted to such open invasion but to less violent means.

The invasion took place, and it seems quite clear now that the invasion and the entire war that has continued to this day was unjust to begin with. The War in Iraq is unjust because there were no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq. Saddam Hussein did not do anything to provoke an invasion or serve as a threat to US securities or the borders of any nation in the Middle East. Saddam commanded a weakened military force which also did not show any type of threat. Saddam Hussein knew that if he were to deploy any WMDs, Iraq would suffer with heavy retaliation. Saddam has no motive in using WMDs, unless Iraq was invaded, where he would use them in desperation versus the opposing forces (Savoy 16).

Saddam is a murderous and evil individual, but he is not stupid or suicidal. He had remained in power for over 20 years. Even if Iraq did not meet the deadline with the WMDs and the weapons inspectors, there is no right for any nation to wage war against another preemptively, or before there was a right and definite cause for war.

The US invasion violated international laws, and also, the Geneva Convention, UN Charter, Monroe Doctrine, and the US Constitution's restriction of armed forces (Savoy 16). Whether or not Iraq had WMDs, the invasion proved they did not have any, making them less of a threat and more of a reason why the war is unjust because of the fact that the war has continued on after the US met their objective.

The war is also unjust because of the large Federal spending to support the war instead of for other purposes to help benefit the United States. The Bush Administration has spent billions upon billions of dollars for this unjust war. In 2004, the Congressional Budget Office said that the total deficit ...