War on Terror Bachelor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

War on Terror Bachelor - Essay Example The war on Iraq is a good example of this. Iraq had long fallen out with the US. Accordingly, the war on terror has been said to be responsible for the influence into the formulation of certain policies. For instance, how suspects are to be treated and even how personal privacy can be breached all in the name of security. As far as foreign policy is concerned, the United States seems to have used the war on terror to pursue some very aggressive policies. For this it has earned open criticism and condemnation from many different quarters. These policies are on the political, economic and military fronts. (2007) The war on Iraq is a true demonstration of this. It is openly clear that the war on terror was used in more ways than one to make sense of the war against Iraq. The people were openly against a war in Iraq but the President Bush and his administration went ahead with it anyway making use of forged documents and giving misleading information to gain the approval and support of t he American people. Careful analysis of the war on terror reveals instances of double speak where language was used to hide the true intentions of the government. The fact is that there were no links to terrorism that were openly visible and real in Iraq. Somehow even President Bush appeared to think so. This is probably why he resorted to using the forged documents. (Braun, 2008) So, there had to be some other reason that the Bush administration was keen on the war in Iraq. Conversely, while Afghanistan was the first to be targeted in the war on terror, being bombed by the United States in the search for Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorist group, after some time the war shifted focus and Iraq became the target. So why the shift Iraq has a long history with the United States. When Iraq had attacked Iran, the US had been openly supportive. In addition to supplying Iraq with over 5 billion dollars worth of finances, it also supplied intelligence information and heavy apparatus in the form of trucks and even other machinery. The reason the US was openly involved and supported was so that it could make sure that Saddam Hussein won the war and Teheran, especially the Islamic radicals therein, was humiliated. It was in the 1980's when President George Bush, the senior, adopted the policy of accommodation as far as Iraq was concerned. In the policy the US would be able to gain access to the oil in the Persian Gulf as well as the security of certain friendly states in the region. However, the rapport was to fall after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. (Tirman, 2001) Thus, there are various reasons why the United States focused its attention on Iraq as opposed to Afghanistan as far as the war on terror was concerned. First of all, Iraq was no longer in the good books of the US, not since the time it invaded Kuwait. Before then, the US was able to look the other way even in instances when it was clear that Iraq was committing serious offences and crimes right under its nose. However, the most convincing reason would have to be that Iraq has massive oil reserves which the US wanted to take for itself and exercise control over. In the global arena and especially in politics, countries act by way of leverage and oil is an important tool. Think of all the power and influence that