The Invasion of Iraq

Paper Summary:

The U.S.- led invasion of Iraq has invited a lot of controversy about the justification, legality and ethics of a "pre-emptive" strike against a foreign government. Although the US government has justified it on several grounds, most countries in the rest of the world, notably France remain unconvinced. This paper examines how the U.S. (and its coalition partners) justify the invasion of Iraq and compares it to the French position. It also discusses the impact of this invasion on future international affairs.

From the Paper:

"The main reasons given by the US government (and its main ally, Britain) are that Iraq and its regime under Saddam Hussain possessed weapons of mass destruction; that it has failed to co-operate fully with UN inspectors as called for by UN Security Council resolutions; that the regime has links to terrorist groups including Al-Qaeda, and that Saddam Hussain's regime posed "a clear and present danger" to the United States and the rest of the world if left unchallenged. It was implied that the regime was likely to provide weapons of mass destruction (including biological weapons) to terrorist organizations with devastating effect. The US government, therefore, felt justified in leading a "pre-emptive" strike on Iraq to find and destroy the weapons of mass destruction and to effect "a regime change."

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