Iraq And Political Ideologies

Statement 1

There really are two parts to this statement. First, whether the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq was rational, and second, whether not withdrawing troops today is rational. I disagree with both parts.

For the former part of the statement, it would be easy to say that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was irrational because of the state of the affair today, however, hindsight is always 20/20. Based on the information available and the reasons given in 2003 though, I think one is still able to clearly see that an invasion is highly irrational. My basic understanding of why the U.S. needed to invade Iraq was because Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, was a tyrant who had weapons of mass destruction, which he would probably give to terrorist organizations, and he had taken part in the attacks of the World Trade Center. All of these have since been disproved, but even then, there was no evidence to support a single one of these claims. Also, even if Saddam did have nuclear weapons, it would be highly unlikely that he would use them against the U.S. mainly because it would mean he would then have to deal with a massive retaliation effort from the U.S., which would threaten not only his life, but his role as dictator of Iraq. It would also be highly unlikely that Saddam would give any weapons to terrorist organizations. Fundamentalists, like Osama bin Laden, cannot stand secular Muslim leaders like Saddam, and on the flip side, Hussein cannot stand fundamentalist organizations like Al Quaeda. Therefore, based on the 2003 justifications for the war, I see no reason for military action.

For the latter part of the statement, I feel the main reason why it is irrational to not withdraw U.S. forces is the troops themselves. The morale of the troops over the three years that the U.S. has been in Iraq has increasingly and steadily dropped. I feel that it is clear that the troops no longer want to be in Iraq and feel that they have no real reason to be there. Also, the American people clearly want the troops brought home. They too see no clear reason why the troops are in Iraq either. Also, I believe that the presence of the U.S. in Iraq directly affects the instability within the country, as well as the region. Therefore, it is highly irrational to leave U.S. forces in Iraq.

Statement 2

I agree with this statement. I believe that fascism would destroy classic liberalism, Marxism, fundamentalist conservatism, and socialism if given the