Since 2001, the United States special operations forces have been fighting the war on terror. It remains the longest war in American history. The decision to go to war with Iraq was unpopular with the American people, and for those who supported it in congress faced a political backlash. The president received authorization from Congress to declare war on Iraq due to their alleged involvement in the Sep 11 attack and their alleged possession of Weapons of Mass Destructions. On May 19, 2003, President George W. Bush addresses the nation from the Oval Office announcing the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom.…
However this wasn’t all great, even though we installed a new government in Iraq it didn’t really help the country that much. It was unstable before and almost just as much after as not all want to obey a democratic government or support the way it works. This is why we still have a presence there and are still trying to stabilize the country. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq following the 9/11 attacks also lead to many civilian casualties in the countries they were fought in. During the Iraq war alone 10s of thousands of civilians casualties were reported (doc 9).…
Before General David Petraeus was brought into command of the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I), the War on Iraq seemed to be heading south. By the time President George W. Bush announced the surge policy in 2007, Iraq appeared to be slipping steadily towards chaos. Enemy attacks were growing in both number and sophistication. Something needed to be changed and fast.…
However, after the US began leading an occupation, it was later opposed by insurgency which caused an uproar in violence. This violence lasted until the end of 2007. After 2007, soldiers were slowly taken out of Iraq, leading up to the complete Iraq withdrawal in 2011. However, troops are still stationed in Iraq helping Iraqi soldiers train. They are also helping to protect some of the cities from terrorist groups like ISIL.…
There has been ongoing violence in Syria since 2011. This all started when peaceful protesters assembled in the Southern Syrian town of Daraa. They were protesting the arrest and torture of a group of teenagers whose sole crime was writing anti-government graffiti on a wall. The violence is still going on because of people and groups giving other groups and people a reasons to fight. The violence in Syria is ongoing because of President Assad, ethnic conflict and too much sides.…
Approximately 165,000 civilians were killed in the Iraq war, but exact number is unknown. Although the U.S. was not directly affected by the consequences of war, the U.S. faced issues at…
When President Clinton was elected, foreign policy was not something that he was expecting to be employing. Frankly, it was not something that he was at all prepared to do. On inauguration day, he was 46 years old, making him the third-youngest person to hold the oval office. His prior political experience was time as a governor and as the Attorney General for the state. The United States has just finished the Gulf War.…
Larry Diamond describes Iraq as a “beleaguered country (Diamond pg.1);” meaning that it is surrounded with troubles. The troubles that Iraq sustains are obstacles such as an inadequate government, a minimal level of security, an inefficient police force, shoddy equipment, and a severe language gap. Iraq does not have a structured government because they do not have rules or order. Over 100 government officials have been killed on the job due to the fact that Iraqi politicians are not typically taken seriously. They lack legitimacy to the point that they cannot develop a new government to properly secure their country.…
The initial U.S. military campaign strategy for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) failed to properly plan for the US political end state of a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Fortunately, the knowledge and experiences gained from combat operations in OIF, coupled with the concepts of operational design, led to an improved “surge” strategy in 2007. In fact, reassessment of kinetic operations in 2006 led tactics to transition from “clear and leave” to “clear and hold” in 2007. This clear and hold tactic, and many others, formed the cornerstone of current US counterinsurgency doctrine and defined the “surge”. Notwithstanding, evaluation of the initial approach and planning against current US doctrine exposes multiple shortcomings, most notably, a poor understanding…
Current Events Many bad things happen every day but on October 31st, a Russia bound jet was found in pieces. ISIS immediately took responsibility for it, Russia immediately denied those claims. But now more reports are saying that ISIS could have been responsible for the attacks. On November 5th British Prime Minister David Cameron called Russian President Vladimir Putin to talk about the crash.…
This violence was often seen by Iraqi businessmen as the only way to prevent foreign investors from taking over Iraqi assets. The contracting out of military support did not just degrade the humanitarian conditions for Iraqis but it also U.S. soldiers. The movie “Iraq for Sale” shows how contractors were providing water that was not clean and tents that were making the soldiers sick. In addition, they refused to switch the dining hall to at 24/7 schedule…
It was a long and painful war that did not end as expected. In the reading, Myths of American Exceptionalism, Walt (2011) states that more than 100,000 people were killed due the United States invading…
What the punishment for it? And many more. In May of 2015 a report was released showing that an estimate of at least 1.3 million people have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan from direct and indirect consequences of the U.S. “war on terrorism.” (Carasik, 2015). Although no estimate on casualties and deaths among enemy combatants and civilians.…
In the Gulf War, about 400 troops from the International Forces died and about 35,000 Iraqi people were killed. It was estimated that during the period of 2003 - 2006, about 655,000 Iraqi soldiers and civilians lost their lives. The United States lost 3,533 soldiers and over 53,000 were wounded. The United Nation lost almost 300 troops.…
Bagdad was a critical decisive point, not a source of strength, a single geographic place that was essential in controlling in order to influence and achieve the desired end state. The Pentagon did not understand the internal strife among the Islamic religious groups in Iraq and how not providing basic essential needs to the civilian population would exasperate such dissention generating significant obstacles during phase IV. Until the defeat of the Fedayeen, forces in the Sunni Triangle and the Iraq general populations were under control the desired end state was unachievable. GEN Franks and Rumsfeld were slow to react and change the ways and means, hesitated to shift their strategies to deal with COG changes, which ultimately extended the war for many…