Iraq was at war with Iran for much of the 1980's. During that time, the US was clearly in support of Iraq. In 1984, the US restored diplomatic relations with the Iraqi government and removed Iraq from the list of "terrorist nations". Several times during that decade, the US authorized sales of attack helicopters and other weapons of war to Iraq. That the US supported Iraq during this decade is clear. Then, in the mid-80's, it was discovered that Iraq actually used chemical weapons against Iran. The use of these weapons increased throughout the 80's (Bush actually mentions this in his recent speeches, citing the attacks against villages in Iraq). However, the reaction of the US government to these "terrorist" actions was muted. In fact, the US supplied Iraq with billions of dollars of aid in the form of money and weapons throughout that decade. The US went so far as the help Iraq plan military maneuvers even though they knew that ch

An unprovoked attack against Iraq would set a dangerous precedent of pre-emptive war that would undermine the very foundations of international security. War against Iraq could make the United States an outlaw nation. It could violate the U.N. Charter and the principles of international law and could lead to a weakening of the United Nations.

On September 17, 2002, President Bush, issued a thirty-page document entitled “The National Security Strategy of the United States.” The overview states: “The U.S. national security strategy will be based on a distinctly American internationalism that reflects the union of our values and our national interests. The aim of this strategy is to help make the world not just safer but better. Our goals on the path to progress are clear: political and economic freedom, peaceful relations with other states, and respect for human dignity” (Kayson).

As Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz (a committed supporter of war with Iraq) has said, “In the end, it has to come down to a careful weighing of things we can ’t know with precision, the costs of action versus the costs of inaction, the costs of action now versus the costs of action later” (Meceran).

Iraq is considered a 'rogue' nation; one fit for policing by the US. In some views, merely raising the argument, based on moral grounds, that Iraq must be reeled in at all costs simply from a perceived 'threat' is no justification for going to war, and in fact is in direct contradiction to most of the actions taken by the US in the last 20 years. There is more legal and historical basis for Iraq or any other "rogue" state to invade this country than there is for the current US oil profit scheme that anti-war demonstrators have been pressing.

Failing to act against Saddam now may open the door for future travesties and offenses. If at some future date, Saddam uses nuclear weapons against Israel or gasses more of his own citizens or engages in ethnic cleansing against the Kurds or launches a covert biological weapons attack against the United States, won ’t history look back on the failure to remove him as a serious error? Won ’t people wish that Saddam had been stopped, much as people express grief for the failure to stop Hitler in the 1930s? President Bush himself makes this point in his preface to his new national security strategy: “History will judge harshly those who saw the coming danger but failed to act” (Kayson). The message is clear: those who oppose this war must bear the burden of the costs, risks, and dangers of inaction. This is, indeed, a fair point.

The Bush administration has clearly rendered its judgment, concluding that inaction is unacceptably dangerous and risky, while war against Saddam is both desirable and likely to be cheap (when compared to wars of the past).

Some topics in this essay:
President Bush, Iraq Bush, Saddam Hussein, Middle East, Meceran Failing, Previous UN, Dealings” Shortly, Iraq Iraq, Iraq Dealings”, United States”, mass destruction, weapons mass destruction, weapons mass, saddam hussein, chemical weapons, iraq dealings”, “some history, history iraq dealings”, history iraq, “some history iraq, president bush, national security strategy, war iraq, personal message, development weapons mass,