21 US Iraq Invasion Flashcards
At the end of the 20th century, Why was ME/NA so stable?
There were many dictatorships and little democracy.
But what else was going on?
Al-Quaeda was planning attacks against the US.
Do we know today the full fallout of 9/11?
Probably not, but it may be greater than the end of the Ottoman Empire.
What peaceful transitions were going on at the time?
King Hussein (Jordan) son took over after his father’s death.
What else?
In Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika was elected President and remained so for 20 years.
What else?
Morocco’s king died and was succeeded by his son.
What else?
Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father in Syria.
He was an opthamologist
What happened in ME/NA after 9/11?
Arabs waited for us to respond.
What did the US do?
In October they invaded Afghanistan.
Other countries were relieved.
Why Afghanistan?
They harbored the terrorists?
But what did the US do next?
They went after longer-term foes Iraq and Iran.
What is one reason that the US felt empowered to do this?
They were no longer counterbalanced by the USSR.
How did the US justify this?
Found “intelligence” linking al-Quaeda to Saddam Hussein.
DId this turn out to be true?
No
What other “intelligence” did we claim to have?
That Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
What was the truth?
That Iraq had abandoned its weapons programs n 1991.
What did the invasion accomplish?
It overthrew the government but created chaos and even more terrorist groups.
When did the US invade Iraq?
March 20, 2003
How long did it take to take Baghdad?
3 weeks
What did that unleash?
- Gratitude from Iraqis Hussein had been repressing.
- Massive crime
In particular, what was stolen?
Massive amounts of Iraqi military weapons.
650,000 tons of equipemtn
What were those arms used for?
A prolonged insurgency
insurgency = prolonged, armed rebellion
When did Bush declare the “mission accomplished”?
3 weeks after the fall of Baghdad
Who did Bush appoint as temporary administrator?
Ambassador Paul Bremer
What is the first thing Bremer did?
Prohibit any who served in Hussein’s government from holding offfice.
These were from the Ba’ath party
What did this cause?
It eliminated the people who joined the party just to get a job.
What did Bremer do next?
Dissolved the Iraqi military and polive putting many men out of jobs.
What happened with these men?
The insurgency hired them.
What happened in 2004?
Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a terrorist, joined them.
What did that turn into?
ISIS / ISIL / Daesh
How did they do it?
They created Sunni/Shia discord.
When was Saddam Hussein tried and hanged?
2006
When did we complete our pullout of Iraq?
2011
How did all of this increase Iran’s influence in Iraq?
Shias felt more comfortable siding with them than the US
