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ORDER AND DISORDER: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1989 TO THE PRESENT > Iraq War > Flashcards

Iraq War Flashcards

1
Q

Basic Facts about Iraq

A 
• 2nd largest oil reserves in the world
• Ethnic Kurds in the North(15%)
• Sunni Arabs in the middle(30%)
• Shiite Arabs in the south(50%)
Iraq has two branches of Muslims that live in Iraq, Sunni and Shiite
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2
Q

Colonial History

A
  • Iraq was under British rule from 1918 until 1930
  • Iraq became a kingdom in 1932
  • The King was overthrown in 1958 and the Arab Socialist Party Ba’th Party took power in 1968 under Saddam Hussein as one of it’s leaders
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3
Q

Saddam Takes Power

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• Iraq is made up of mostly Shiites
• In 1979, Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, Led a military coup and became a dictator
○ His regime greatly oppressed the Shiite majority in Iraq
• During the 1980s, the US supported Saddam Hussein because Iraq was fighting a war against Iran(Iran was Socialist and this was during the cold war)
• Iran had a Shiite government whereas Iraq had a Sunni government

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4
Q

Iran-Iraq War: 1980-1988

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• Soon after Saddam’s rise to power, the Islamic revolution took place in Iran. It aimed to spread this revolution to Iraq.
○ This led to a war between the two countries
• 1 million casualties
• Allegations of Iraqi use of chemical weapons during the war
• Ended as a stalemate even though Saddam claimed victory
• Massive war debts for Iraq and Iran

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5
Q

Effects of Iran-Iraq War

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• Iraq had $60 billion to repay to foreign banks
• It could no longer pay for the healthcare, education and other benefits given to its citizens in better times
The price of oil had fallen sharply, crippling Iraq’s ability to repay its wartime debts.

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6
Q

After the war with Iran, Saddam Invaded Kuwait in 1990

A

• Long standing disputes Iraq and Kuwait
○ Iraq argued that Kuwait is an Iraqi province. The British created the borders
○ Iraq wanted Kuwait to forgive debts Iraq owes from the Iran-Iraq war
§ Claims Kuwait actually owes Iraq for ‘‘defending’’ it against Iran
○ Iraq accused Kuwait of overproduction of oil/theft of Iraqi oil.
• On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait

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7
Q

When Saddam stops being the ally of West

A

• April 2, 1990- Saddam Hussein confirmed that Iraq possesses chemical weapons
○ Also gave his ‘‘burn Israel’’ speech
○ ‘‘By God, we will make fire eat up half of Israel’’ if Israel attacks Iraq
• A week after the sanctions bill clears the Senate, Iraq invaded Kuwait

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8
Q

The first Gulf War(1991)

A
  • In 1990, Saddam Hussein, invaded the small country of Kuwait
    • Hussein’s goal: Use Kuwait’s oil wealth to help make Iraq the dominant power in the Middle East
    • Saudi Arabia, fearing invasion, asked the US for military aid
    • The US and its allies gave Hussein an ultimatum which he ignored
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9
Q

Coalition Operations

A
  • The end of the Cold War and Russia’s willingness to join the US in opposing Iraq created an unprecedented level of international cooperation
    • The United Nations adopted resolutions condemning Iraq and authorising the use of force to get Iraq out of Kuwait
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10
Q

Consequences of the first Gulf War

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• UN imposed economic sanctions on Iraq
• Iraqi army military capabilities were severely damaged
• Setting up a UN mission to inspect Iraqi weapons facilities to make sure that Iraq does not develop weapons of mass destruction
• The US and its allies were not interested in toppling Saddam Hussein at this stage
○ The aim was to liberate Kuwait. Saddam remained in power but ended up being weaker economically and militarily

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11
Q

Official Objectives: Political

A
  • Establish a transition government that represents all Iraqi communities such as Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds which will eventually lead to a democracy in Iraq
    • Dissolve the leading Iraqi Ba’th Party and bring justice to the dictatorial regime
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12
Q

Official Objectives: Humanitarian

A
  • Liberate Iraq from its dictator Saddam Hussein. This would lead to Iraq being united, stable and free
    • Prosecute Saddam Hussein for his crimes against Humanity
    • Support the reconstruction and humanitarian aid and try to reduce the damage to the country’s organisation and infrastructure
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13
Q

Official Objectives: Military

A
  • Remove the threat that Saddam Hussein posed to his neighbours(Israel, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia)
  • Neutralise Iraq of weapons of mass destruction including biological, chemical and long range missiles
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14
Q

Official Objectives: Counter Terrorism

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  • Eliminate an ally of Al Qaeda, which helped and protected terrorists who targeted the US in 9/11 attacks
    • Destroy the Iraqi regime that provided a refuge for various Palestinian terrorist groups that target Israeli with suicide attacks
    • To justify any doubt about the existence of connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda, the US secret intelligence talked about several meetings between Bin Laden and Iraqi intelligence
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15
Q

Informal Objectives: Political

A
  • Install a new government in Iraq that will serve US interest
    • Eliminate the threat that Saddam Hussein’s regime poses to Israel
    • Removing Saddam Hussein would result in a domino effect where all regimes in the Middle East(Syria, Iran and Libya) that are hostile to the US and its interests in the region would be intimidated into cooperation
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16
Q

Informal Objectives: Military

A
  • Establish permanent American military presence in Iraq in order to counter Iran and secure US interests in the region
    • Release US prisoners captured during the first Gulf War
    • Destroy the capability of the Iraq army completely
17
Q

Economic Objectives: Oil

A

• Iraq has the World’s Second largest reserves of oil
○ By toppling Saddam Hussein, the US wanted to make sure that it has uninterrupted access to oil reserves in the middle east
• Saddam Hussein used the oil as a weapon to manipulate the oil markets. The invasion of Iraq was to sustain moderate global oil prices
• Invading Iraq will allow many American companies close to the Bush administration to profit from Iraqi oil by taking control of its wells

18
Q

Assessing the oil argument: Politicians

A
  • Tony Blair stated that the theory that the Iraq invasion had something to do with was a conspiracy theory
    • Australian Prime minister John Howard said that ‘‘we didn’t go because of oil and we didn’t remain because of oil
19
Q

Assessing the oil argument: Academics

A
  • US dependence on Middle East Oil was substantial but not limited
    • The US did not need to invade Iraq in order to secure energy supplies since Iraq had no control over the oil market.
    • There certainly would have been no invasion had Iraq not been an oil prize, in itself cannot explain the war
20
Q

Assessing the oil argument: Marxist

A

• The invasion of Iraq was the result of capitalist expansion to secure future production in the Middle East.
• The invasion was a way for the Bush administration to control the overall structure of the international system
• The US government is dominated by capitalist elites who wanted to invade Iraq to exploit its oil
• The US wanted to reaffirm its hegemony in global affairs
○ Allowing Russian and Chinese companies to extract Iraqi oil would affect this hegemony

21
Q

Assessing oil argument: Defensive realist perspective

A
  • Defensive realism argues that a states’ primary concern is to ensure survival by attaining security
    • Iraq is an enemy state of the united states that attempted and was still attempting to possess weapons of mass destruction
    • The US had to practise self-defence towards Iraq
    • Iraq harboured terrorist organisations that attacked the US
    • Whether or not Iraq actually aligned with Al-Qaeda or not is irrelevant as the perceived threat was real enough and caused the United States to invade Iraq(security dilemma)
22
Q

Unpredicted consequences: The Iraqi insurgency(2003until 2006)

A
  • The collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime was quick
    • The US was not able to fill the power vacuum that happened as a result
    • The insurgency lasted for three years and targeted American soldiers. It led to the death of thousands of American soldiers
    • Al-Qaeda took the opportunity to start its activities during this insurgency
    • Al-Qaeda started targeting populations in Iraq accusing them of being infidels and that they have enabled the Americans to occupy Iraq
    • This led to sectarian violence in Iraq that lasted from 2006 until 2008
23
Q

Unpredicted consequences: Sectarian violence in Iraq

A
  • This started with al-qaeda attacking the holiest sites of shiites in Iraq
    • Shiites responded with a wave of reprisals and so did the sunnis. This led to a vicious cycle of violence
    • Extremists from both sides attacked innocent civilians
    • Some scholars argue that the sectarian violence that happened in Iraq is the result of the US invasion in Iraq
    • The US failed to bring security to the Iraqi people after invading Iraq
    • This mad many Iraqi citizens turn to extremist sectarian groups for protection
    • The decision of the US to dissolve the Iraqi government and army created a vacuum of power that was filled by sectarian parties and militias
24
Q

Unpredicted consequences: The increase in terrorism

A
  • One of the justifications that the US used to invade Iraq was that there is a link between Hussein’s regime and al-qaeda
    • However, it turned out later that the invasion of Iraq created more terrorism
    • The fall of state institutions created a power vacuum that enabled terrorists to fill
    • Fearing a similar fate to Hussein, The Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad facilitated the passage of thousands of Syrian/foreign fighters to cross to Iraq to fight against the Americans
    • These fighters created the Islamic state of Iraq in 2006
    • The group rose to power again after the beginning of the Syrian Civil War to create what is now called ISIS
25
Q

Unpredicted consequences: Empowering Iran’s influence in the Middle East

A
  • Instead of creating a liberal government, the invasion of Iraq brought a sectarian government that saw itself affiliated to the religious rule in Iran
    • Iran made use of the sectarian affiliation with Iraq’s Shiite population to entrench itslef in the new Iraq
    • To increase its leverage in Iraq, Iran armed and financed Shiite insurgents against the American presence in Iraq
26
Q

Unpredicted consequences: Failed State

A
  • The US promised that it would deliver democracy to Iraq and that it would use the money from oil sales to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure
    • 16 Years after the invasion, Iraq ended up as a corrupted failed state that witnesses a large scale of human rights violations
    • The government cannot provide basic services to Iraqi citizens like food, water and health care
    • The war against ISIS led to a large scale destruction of the Infrastructure in Mosul and many other Iraqi cities

ORDER AND DISORDER: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1989 TO THE PRESENT (2 decks)

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