Was President Bush right to attack Iraq? This is a question that many Americans ask themselves everyday in the aftermath of Operation Iraqi Freedom. There are many different sides to this issue and many different answers to this question. It seemed that leading up to the war everyone in America had their own opinion on the war, what should be done, and why that should be done. The war support was not defined by political party. The public opinion varied all across the board.
The United States and Iraq have a pretty extensive history when it comes to conflict. The war in Iraq was a continuation of business unfinished by the Gulf War. More than ten years ago, President George Bush ordered U.S. troops into the Persian Gulf in response to Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait. Americans view the Gulf War with a great sense of closure; after all, we did win the liberation of Kuwait. However, Saddam Hussein views the war as a tactical defeat or a small battle lost. Saddam believes he won the war because he managed to outlast Bush's time in power; endure international sanctions, protect his weapons of mass destruction programs, and live to fight another day. Iraqi forces were withdrawn from Kuwait, but Saddam's claims on the country and proclaimed regional domination were not. Saddam perceives the war with the United States as ongoing and therefore was constantly bolstering his power through development of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction all in preparation for the next battle. Americans for the most part, failed to perceive that the struggle with Iraq never ended, much as we failed to grasp before September 11th that Al Qaeda had declared, and was waging, a war against us. However, at the end of the Gulf war in 1991 the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq such as the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 661. These sanctions were to remain in place until several provisions of UNSCR 687 were followed through with and all weapons of mass destruction were destroyed.
