Was the 2003 war in Iraq justified and necessary?

Essay by andy9283 June 2004

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Assignment aim.

My aim in this assignment is to provide an objective view of whether the 2003 war on Iraq is justified.

History of Iraq. For map see appendix 1. Weapons Of Mass Destruction (WOMD)

Iraq is a country that was created after world war 1, by the then coalition. It neighbours with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and Jordan. It is split, pretty much in two by the rivers, Tigress and Euphrates. Habitation and life along these two waterways have flourished since the dawn of time. In biblical times it was a flourishing water way, important for trade. The ground found in between these two is known as Mesopotamia. The cradle of life itself. Iraq is also close to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. So there for the people in this region have very strong religious beliefs. Iraq is also dominated by desert. It is does not have sand dunes or sand hills spreading for miles.

The Iraq desert is however almost completely flat with occasional wadi's breaking the landscape. The ground is also dry and a lot of the desert is also bedrock. The weather that this desert can produce in the winter can be unrelenting. As T.E. Lawrence writes. The gulf war of 1991 saw some of the worst weather the region had suffered for thirty years.

Iraq itself includes three major groups: Sunni Muslims in the centre surrounding the capital of Baghdad, Kurds in the north and Shi'a Muslims in the south. About 15% of the population is Kurdish, 80% Arab. Some 60% are Shi'ite Arab Muslims like their neighbours in Iran, but they are Arabs, not Persians. There are also significant Assyrian and Turkomen minorities in the north. These smaller groups were not given any national rights when a settlement was made. So therefore civil...