Operation Iraqi Freedom



Operation Iraqi Freedom

Introduction

The primary justification for the invasion of Iraq was Saddam Hussein's alleged efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. The subsequent US failure to uncover evidence of an active WMD program was bound to hasten the decline in public support for the war. President Bush's invasion of Iraq has severely impacted the United States economy in recent years. The value of the dollar has continually diminished in the stock market since the offset of the war. This war, according to many, was a wrong decision that was formulated without any approvals from congress or UN.

Thesis Statement

The decision of United States to jump into a war in Iraq was an incorrect step that occurred without approval from U.N. As a result of this war, United States faced immense economic losses and danger of troops' lives.

Decision to go to Iraq

Weapons of Mass Destruction

The U.S invasion of Iraq provides another example of maladaptive decision making. Weapons of mass destruction provided the basis of the decision. There was uncertainty, and as National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice very accurately said, certainty about the issue could not wait until the certain evidence of a smoking gun came in the form of a mushroom cloud. What makes this decision a Type IV is the manner in which the Bush administration created certainty around inaccurate information. Almost a year after expounding on known and unknown unknowns, Rumsfeld had fewer doubts about unknowns. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Rumsfeld was asked about weapons of mass destruction and suggested that he had moved from scoffing at the certain omniscience of others to his own certainty about something that he did not know.

Role of Congress and UN

The role of congress and UN was limited The most trusted member of the Bush administration, Secretary of State Colin Powell, went to the United Nations and made a compelling case about Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, delivery systems, and ties with terrorists that had no or little factual basis. Powell came to view his speech as a “blot” on his record of professional service. Deception had a place in this decision, as well. One high-ranking intelligence officer, who was close to the decision making, assessed, “They were blind and deaf to any kind of countervailing information the intelligence community would produce. I would assign some blame to the intelligence community and most of the blame to the senior administration officials.” Information was withheld. For example, Cheney based his certainty on “the firsthand testimony of defectors—including Saddam's own son-in-law.”Cheney did not say that Hussein Kamel had talked about the weapons programs before the Gulf War of 1991. After the war, Kamel explained, he had “ordered the destruction of all chemical weapons. All weapons—biological, chemical, missile, nuclear—were destroyed” (Ackerman, 2003). The invasion of Iraq, however, was irrelevant to the terrorist attacks against the United State on 9/11, solved other problems of those with the authority to choose among the options.

Saddam Hussein Connection to 9/11

U.S. and innumerable people believed that there was ...