Transcript Iraq war- 2003 - Euroakadeemia

IRAQ WAR- 2003
Ocupation of Iraq
Second Gulf War
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Operation Iraqi Liberation (O.I.L) *
FACTS AND GOALS
Invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003 in order to
- overthrow Baath party
- execute Saddam Hussein
- establish a new government

REASONS
US and UK gov – Iraqi WMDs is a treat to their
security
 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein blamed for
harboring and supporting al-Qaeda ( no evidence)
 Iraq finances Palestinian suicide bombers
 Iraqi gov human rights abuse
 Spreading DEMOCRACY to Iraq
 In 2002 (UN) – no WMDs were found in Iraq
 US confirmed (after invasion) – Iraq had ended
nuclear, chemical and biological programs in
1991

BUT..
In 2002 (UN) – no Weapons of Mass Destruction
were found in Iraq
 US confirmed (after invasion) – Iraq had ended
nuclear, chemical and biological programs in
1991

IRAQI INSURGENCY / IRAQI RESISTANCE
Sunni and Shia Iraqi groups
 New faction of al-Qaeda in Iraq
 4.7 million refugees (2008)
 35% of children are orphans
 Civilians suffer most in armed conflicts

IRAQ AND US
Public opinion- troops out!
 Iraqi forces– more responsibility
 Status of Forces Agreement
 2008- 2012
 Strategic Framework Agreement – co-operation
in constitutional rights, education, energy etc.

THE TIMELINE
2003 – invasion
 2004 – insurgency grows
 2005 – 31th January, election of the Iraqi
Transitional Government
 Constitution ratified on 15th October 2005
 2006 – civil-war like situations (Sunnis attacking
Shias)
 Current government took office on May 20th
 2007 - +20 000 US soldiers

 On
March 6, 2006, five United States
Army soldiers of the 502nd Infantry
Regiment, raped the 14-year-old Iraqi girl
Abeer Hamza al-Janabi, and then
murdered her, her father, her mother
Fakhriya Taha Muhasen and her six-yearold sister. The soldiers then set fire to the
girls body to conceal evidence of the
crime.Four of the soldiers were convicted
of rape and murder and the fifth was
convicted of lesser crimes for the
involvement in the war crime, that
became known as the Mahmudiyah
killings.
THE TIMELINE
UN Security Council Mandate for Coalition
operations in Iraq was renewed in 2007 without
the approval of Iraqi parliament
 August 2007 – deadliest single attack; circa 800
civilians killed by a series of suicide bomb attacks
 2008 – overall violence down 80%, murder rate
the same as before invasion
 2009- US forces withdrew 29th June; on
November 30 civilian death toll fell to its lowest
since the invasion in 2003
 2010, April 18th, US and Iraqi forces killed alMasri, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq

OBAMA, AUGUST 2010



The United States has paid a huge price to put
the future of Iraq in the hands of its people.
While all combat brigades left the country, an
additional 50,000 personnel remained in the
country to provide support for the Iraqi military.
"We are ending the war.... but we are not ending
our work in Iraq, We have a long-term
commitment to Iraq."
ECONOMY
From 2005 to 2008, the United States had
completed approximately $20 billion in arms
sales agreements with Iraq
 UN has returned control of Iraq's oil and gas
revenue to the government and ending the Oilfor-Food Programme (Bush 1995, before Gulf
War)

STATUS OF FORCES AGREEMENT
US combat forces will withdraw by June 30, 2009
 All US forces out by 31 December 2011
 Government of Iraq has no authority to control
the transfer of occupier forces into and out of
Iraq, no control of shipments, and that the pact
grants the occupiers immunity from prosecution
in Iraqi courts
 Referendum on this issue

OBAMA, AUGUST 2010
"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."
CRITICISM
 Center
for Public Integrity, a group
partially funded by George Soros has
enumerated a total of 935 allegedly
FALSE statements made by George W.
Bush and six other top members of his
administration in what it termed a
"carefully launched campaign of
misinformation" during the two year
period following 9/11 attacks, in order to
rally support for the invasion of Iraq.
A former CIA officer described the Office of
Special Plans as a group of ideologues who were
dangerous to U.S. national security and a threat
to world peace, and that the group lied and
manipulated intelligence to further its agenda of
removing Saddam.
 Total cost to US economy is estimated 3 trillion
USD
 Human casualties during the war
 Humanitarian crisis – malnutrition, lack of
doctors, no drinking water
 Human rights abuses on both sides
