War+in+Iraq

=﻿The War in Iraq﻿ =

Escalation to War
Many people do not understand why the United States of America is engaged in the war with Iraq that continues to this day. Millions of people worldwide question the motives of the U.S. and its involvement in this war and protest U.S. military involvement in Iraq. In the efforts of George W. Bush to remove the weapons of mass destruction that Iraq had supposedly developed, Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq, avoided the UN investigations for the inspections of areas in Iraq suspected of holding the weapons of mass destruction. In fact, on November 8, 2002, a resolution was passed asserting the UN to send inspectors over to Iraq and search for any weapons there. Another resolution was attempted to be passed in the UN, giving its countries permission to use force in Iraq, however France, Russia, and Germany were opposed to it, and the resolution did not pass. So in 2003, Bush announced a State of the Union Address asserting that if Iraq does not get rid of its weapons of mass destruction, the US will be inclined to use force. The situation with Iraq escalated as Bush demanded that Saddam Hussein leave Iraq or military action would be imposed. On March 20th, two days after Bush delivered this ultimatum, and after discovering that Saddam was hiding in Baghdad, Bush had missiles launched toward Baghdad. When the missiles hit their target three hours after being launched, the war in Iraq the US would fight for seven years, Operation Iraqi Freedom, began. media type="youtube" key="gMStCHtUNeY" width="425" height="350" align="center"

Five Years Later
In 2008, President Bush announced that the removal of some U.S. troops from Iraq would take place, and in February of 2009, troops that were meant to leave Iraq would leave and not be replaced. He also accepted a timeline that planned out the removal of troops from Iraq. Yet, at the same time, the UN allowed the U.S. more time in Iraq since the status-of-forces-agreement expired at the end of the year. Meanwhile, in Iraq, Parliament was trying to pass new laws for provincial elections, but the Parliament sessions were boycotted by Kurdish legislatures. The election laws were further postponed due to the Kurdish legislatures and some secret balloting that supported Kurdish measures. Finally, on September  24th, the Iraqi parliament was able to pass the elections law allowing provincial elections. After Bush’s push for this law and the passing of the law he says, "Today's action demonstrates the ability of Iraq's leaders to work together for the good of the Iraqi people and represents further progress on political reconciliation."

U.S. Presence in Iraq is Unwelcomed
On December 14 th, George W. Bush visited Iraq to promote the recently accepted security agreement between US and Iraq. This agreement would allow the US more time for troops to be in Iraq and would not expire until 2011. Since the agreement was settled, Bush had made a comment that despite the war not being over, it was on its way to being won. During his press conference where he said this, suddenly a reporter named Zaidi threw his shoes, at which Bush dodged. According to Arabic culture, hitting a person with shoes showed a great amount of disrespect and insult. The reporter was obviously showing his lack of support of the U.S. presence in Iraq. Many people demonstrated approbation towards Zaidi’s “heroic” act, since they disagreed with US troops remaining in Iraq. Despite these hard feelings, the agreement was made and US would continue to be locked in war. 

A New Promise
In January of 2009, Obama was elected the new President of the U.S., and on his very first full day on the job he pushed for completing one of his major promises to the American people made during the elections; he had promised to withdraw troops from Iraq. Since troops were supposed to be withdrawn by 2011, Obama told US officials to start creating plans for their removal. An ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, warned that a speedy removal of troops was dangerous because it could lead to the return of al Qaeda and the loss of faith in the Iraqi government.

== The Plan == Then, on February 27 th at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Obama announced that by August 2010, 35,000 to 50,000 of the 140,000 U.S. soldiers would leave Iraq. "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," he told the people. This removal plan was also for the hopes of reducing the U.S. deficit, yet there was also the notion of increasing troops in Afghanistan. The removal of troops in Iraq would move slowly before the December elections to provide security during that time then would become more rapid after elections. Many Democrats who supported a more rapid plan, like Obama originally promised, were upset with the new and slower plan, whereas many Republicans agreed with the new plan.

== Violence == <span style="color: #0a0f38; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">A few months later after things were somewhat quiet in Iraq, on May 20th and 21st, bombings occurred in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, and in the province of Kirkuk. The explosion on May 20th happened at a restaurant in a neighborhood consisting of mostly Shiite Muslims. It was reported that at least thirty-four people were killed and over seventy people were injured. People believed Sunni Muslim groups, like the terrorist group of al Qaeda, were guilty of the bombings. On May 21st, another bombing took place in a market in Baghdad when a U.S. patrol was traveling. Three U.S. soldiers were killed and it was reported by the U.S. that four Iraqi civilians were killed, while Iraqi officials said twelve were killed. Later that day, in Mansour, three police officers were killed when a bomb exploded in a garbage can. During the same day, seven people belonging to the Awakening Council were killed when a Sunni Muslim suicide bomber detonated the bomb in Kirkuk. Meanwhile, al Qaeda was smuggling terrorist fighters through Syria into Iraq. Although Obama was working to improve the relationship between the U.S. and Syria, he decided to authorize programs against Syria since they continued supporting terrorism and a nuclear arms program, in addition to preventing Iraq from rebuilding.

<span style="color: #0a0f38; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Problems with The Province
<span style="color: #0a0f38; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">On July 29, 2009, in the Iraq election Kurdish President Massoud Barzani was reelected in Iraq. When the U.S. invaded Iraq and Saddam Hussein’s control over the country ended, the Kurdish president took over. Overall, Kudistan had been a peaceful region. There was a problem with the province of Kirkuk and whether it would become and autonomous region like the UN proposed and the U.S. supported, yet Barzani opposed it. The province had oil reserves so the Kurds, Sunni Arabs, and the Turkmens tried to claim it while there were also conflicts between the Kurdish Iraqi forces. The U.S. stepped in to prevent any more violence. During the same time, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the removal of U.S. troops could be hastened since security in Iraq was supposedly improving. They were still following the agreement for all the U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by 2011.

<span style="color: #0a0f38; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Election for the Iraqi People
<span style="color: #0a0f38; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">In March of 2010, elections were held in Iraq, and Sunni Muslims were voting unlike in the 2005 elections, where they boycotted the election. Also, the Iraqi people were allowed to vote for individuals rather than just parties. However, there were several candidates that were prevented from running in the election because there were allegations that they were connected to Saddam’s Baath Party. Also, during the elections there were several bombings by terrorists groups in many provinces and in Baghdad. Al Qaeda attempted to disturb the election with several bombings as well, but the Iraqi people continued to vote. Obama had said that "the future of Iraq belongs to the people of Iraq." The election was a close race between current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law and former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya. Iraqiya won the election, though there were issues with fraud. There were several more bombings that occurred after the election.

<span style="color: #0a0f38; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">End of Operation Iraqi Freedom
<span style="color: #0a0f38; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Two weeks before the deadline, the last of the U.S. troops that were supposed to leave Iraq by 2011 crossed into Kuwait on August 9, 2010. Only 50,000 support troops would remain in Iraq until 2012. The removal of the last few troops marked the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom, which started in March 2003. New operations in Iraq were called Operation New Dawn. Up until August 19, 2010, it was reported that 4,419 Americans were killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and 31,911 were wounded. In Obama’s speech regarding the end of U.S. combat mission in Iraq he said, “So tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country.” Obama’s speech of the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom can be read in the following link: [|Obama's Speech] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal;">Here are the casualties from the war: []

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