Why America Invaded Iraq

In the year 2003, America went to war with Iraq following international disputes between

the two countries as the United States suspected that the Iraqi President was harboring Weapons

of Mass Destruction. The invasion was justified according to all legal considerations at the

United Nations. As a matter of fact, the American government mobilized the support of other

countries in the attack. Primarily, this research is going to analyze the reasons why America

attacked Iraq. Particularly, the research will focus on the geopolitics that contributed to the war.

The study aims to establish how America played geopolitics, which led to the invasion of Iraq.

Geopolitics

Geopolitics is the relationship between human and physical effects on the nature of

international affairs, especially political factors. In other words, geopolitics is involved with

foreign policy.1 It deals with political activities of countries, with regards to the geographical

location of the nation. Typically, political patterns of countries are defined by the geographical

locations of the particular country as well as well as other factors. The aspects are demographic

arrangements, natural resources like oil and diamonds, and cultural practices of the people in the

nation. Apart from that, geopolitics addresses the political power of a particular country with

regards to the region around, for example, the control that Russia has over Eastern Europe.

Essentially, within a certain area, a nation may try to take control of land as well as the territorial

waters, citing diplomatic concerns to make it look legitimate. Academic geopolitics analyzes the

history of the geographical relations with regards to the politics of an area.

Geopolitics has always been observed since the time organized societies began forming.

Societies have always tried to control the political as well as the social matters of their regions.

1. Colin, Flint. Introduction to Geopolitics. (New York: Routledge, 2016), 68.

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The only changes are the methods used to gain the control. The ancient societies used more

barbaric methods to assert authority in their regions. Diplomacy was never an agenda in most of

those societies. Some of the governments that were notably strong include the Greek empire, the

Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, and the French empire. These empires showed great

application of geopolitics as they controlled large territories, some as large as present day

continents like Europe. Geopolitics also played a part in the causes of the two world wars.

Nations wanted to control the affairs of the regions, each state pushing for its agenda. The

misunderstandings led to conflicts which eventually led to eruption of the wars. Therefore,

geopolitics contributes a lot to foreign policies and international relations between countries.

American Foreign Policy and Geopolitics

Geopolitics is evident in the American foreign policy. In essence, America sets the

standards of its relations with foreign countries. It likes asserting its authority on its domestic and

international affairs. The foreign policy of the American government is particularly concerned

with trade and military associations with other countries. More importantly, the foreign policy is

centered on the way other nations are governed. Since the end of the Second World War,

America has been on the lookout for countries whose leaders’ abuse power or refuse to give it

up. The strong economy, as well as the high purchasing power, makes America have much

influence over the rest of the world. The foreign policy covers the entire world regarding

relations with the United States. Primarily, there are countries, which associate well with

America and relate at closer levels. Such countries receive favors and a lot of support in their

activities. America may offer military support in the form of training and supply of weapons and

intelligence. Apart from that, the nation may offer support in economic improvement by

advancing the countries loans and grants, as well as expert advice on matters of trade and
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economic improvement. Other areas that America cooperates closely with its friendly countries

are health, education, information technology, and social issues. In return, the countries support

all the policies that America proposes at the United Nations and other international conventions

and meetings. The close ties are mutually benefitting but America always controls the terms and

conditions. However, some countries do not get along with the nation. They always reject any

proposals that America gives concerning world affairs. Their international relationships are only

official. They do not extend the relations outside official issues. As a result of this, several

conflicts have been experienced over the last century. Some of the struggles have been short term

with short term effects. However, some of the conflicts that America has got into with other

countries have had long term devastating effects. They have led to deaths of hundreds of

thousands of people and displacement of many more from their homes, some of them

permanently.

In as much as the influence of the American government on economic issues is on the

decline due to the rise of other nations like China, India, and Brazil, the country still controls

most of the global affairs, particularly on governance and democracy. All the major policies and

regulations that are implemented at the global level must have the support of America to increase

their chances of success. Indeed if the nation disapproves of a certain proposal, it would be

challenging to have it implemented. After all, America is the largest contributor of financial

resources as well as human resources at all the major international organizations. Therefore, it

has the right to form international policies. As a matter of fact, the United Nations has been

observed by critics as an extension of America. On this note, America has perennially been

involved in Middle East geopolitics. The nation has military bases in most parts of the region and

has a direct influence on the governance of some of the countries. A good example is Iraq. Since
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the invasion of Iraq, the United States has a permanent military presence in the country, until

recently when President Obama withdrew the troops.

The Invasion of Iraq

The Iraqi invasion was viewed as a carry-over from the war in Afghanistan.2 The

invasion took place between March 20th and May 1st, 2003. America had named the war as

‘Operation Iraqi Freedom,’ and involved days of fierce fighting between the American forces,

backed by the United Kingdom, Poland, and Australia. The ultimate goal of the invasion was to

capture the capital city of Iraq, Baghdad, from Saddam Hussein, and discover weapons of mass

destruction. The invasion was indeed a major one because America, Poland, United Kingdom,

and Australia sent a total of more than 160,000 troops, with America contributing more than

130,000. They were also assisted by the Kurdish rebels of Iraq. The invasion of the country was

influenced by the need for America to disarm Iraq of the weapons of mass destruction in its

possession, to get Saddam Hussein to stop his support for terrorism, as well to get the people of

Iraq free from the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein.

The American foreign policy influenced the invasion of Iraq by the American forces. 3

Saddam Hussein had ruled Iraq for more than forty years and was not ready to relinquish power,

based on his actions and speeches. Hence, this was viewed as a dictatorship by America, and

particularly President George Bush. Notably, the American foreign policy is strongly against

2. Robert E, Ebeli. Geopolitics and Energy in Iraq: Where Politics Rules. (CSIS, 2010),

64.

3. Jane K.Cramer.and A. Trevor Thrall, eds. Why Did the United States Invade

Iraq?.(New York: Routledge, 2013), 116.

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dictatorship as it supports democracy. America invests billions of dollars in other countries to

promote democracy and upholding of human rights, particularly in Africa and Middle East. As a

result of this, the country justified the attack on Iraq. Apart from that, the foreign policy of

America also addresses issues like the handling of weapons of mass destruction. Iraq had such

weapons in its possession, and the American government was afraid that Saddam would use the

weapons to kill Americans. Therefore, the United States took it as its role to neutralize Hussein.

The American government used the agenda to mobilize the support of the other countries. It is

important to note that America is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council,

alongside China, Russia, United Kingdom and France. President Bush used this position to push

the idea of invading Iraq by a great length. Since the United Nations gave approval of the

invasion, the attack was justified.

The Iraqi government criticized the move by America and said that it was not legitimate.

Together with other critics of the invasion, they argued that the invasion had ulterior motives and

not the ones stated by the American government.4 They said that the American government

wanted to assert its power in the region because it had interests in the natural resources,

particularly oil. Apart from this, the American government had been in the Middle East for long.

The invasion of Iraq was viewed as part of the extension of the country to spread its authority

and influence of the politics of the region to its favor. They argued that the invasion interfered

with the sovereignty of Iraq. Their sentiments could partly be justified because instead of

4. Ghazi-WalidFalah, Colin Flint, and Virginie Mamadouh. "Just war and

extraterritoriality: The popular geopolitics of the United States' war on Iraq as reflected in

newspapers of the Arab world." Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 96, no. 1

(2006): 142-164.
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bringing order to Iraq, the invasion led to a rise in revolutions all over the country. The increase

of terrorism, notably the Islamic State of Iraq, can be blamed on the invasion. The Iraqi people

had never had a stable government since that time. Furthermore, the economy of Iraq weakened

by a large margin, considering that the country was a major producer and exporter of oil in the

world. Currently, Iraq barely benefits from the oil reserves in its territory. The country is

observed to be worse than the way it was before the invasion. The country has become a point of

concern for the United Nations. One would, therefore, be left to wonder the exact reason why

America invaded Iraq.

Iraq is a wealthy country with oil and reserves that cannot be depleted any time soon.5

Oil is considered as a precious natural resource. In fact, almost any country would like to have an

influence on the production and movement of oil, particularly the more developed countries. Iraq

was one of the leading exporters of oil. The exports brought the country much revenue and

analysts state that the influence of Saddam Hussein in the Middle East had grown tremendously.

He had the ability to influence the politics and policies that guided the region. The Iraqi military

had also grown extremely powerful, due to the weapons it possessed. Iraq was among the

strongest economies in the Middle East. The influence started worrying America and its allies, as

they saw it as a threat to the world order. Iraq, and indeed other oil-producing countries in the

Middle East, never supported the ideologies of America or its allies. They always had their

parallel ways of approaching issues. This, combined with the great oil wealth that they had, led

to foreign interests shifting to the Middle East. The countries became the target for popular

5. Philippe Le Billon, and Fouad El Khatib. "From Free Oil to ‘freedom oil’: Terrorism,

war and US geopolitics in the Persian Gulf." Geopolitics 9, no. 1 (2004): 109-137.
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uprisings and wars due to these great amounts of wealth and natural resources.6 Critics of the

American influence in the Middle East report that most of the popular uprisings experienced in

the Arab world were directly or indirectly supported by the American government and its allies.

Apart from the Iraqi invasion, the death of Muammar Gadhafi of Libya also showed that

America had hidden interests in the fall of Gadhafi because, after his death, the country had

never had any stable government. When one understands the geopolitics of the American

government, it would be easier to establish the interests that the country had in the Middle East.

Most critics suggest that America wanted to benefit directly from the production of oil in these

countries, apart from inserting its authority on the region. They point out that with the control of

the production and movement of oil across the region, America can control the region, and by

extension the rest of the world.

Conclusion

Geopolitics involves the foreign policy of a particular country. It addresses the

relationship between the politics of the country with regards to the rest of the world. The

geopolitics of America affects the whole world. The invasion of Iraq was seen as the direct effort

of America to control the region, though the move was based on international affairs of

democracy and governance. Critics of the invasion claim that America invaded Iraq to assert its

authority and to benefit directly from the production of oil.

6. JulienMercille. "The radical geopolitics of US foreign policy: The 2003 Iraq

War." GeoJournal 75, no. 4 (2010): 327-337.

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Bibliography

Cramer, Jane K., and A. Trevor Thrall, eds. Why Did the United States Invade Iraq?.New York:
Routledge, 2013.

Ebel, Robert E. Geopolitics and Energy in Iraq: Where Politics Rules. CSIS, 2010.

Falah, Ghazi-Walid, Colin Flint, and Virginie Mamadouh. "Just War and Extraterritoriality: The
Popular Geopolitics of the United States' War on Iraq As Reflected in Newspapers of the
Arab World." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 96, no. 1 (2006): 142-
164.

Flint, Colin. Introduction to Geopolitics. New York: Routledge, 2016.

Le Billon, Philippe, and Fouad El Khatib. "From Free Oil to ‘Freedom Oil’: Terrorism, War and
US Geopolitics in the Persian Gulf." Geopolitics 9, no. 1 (2004): 109-137.

Mercille, Julien. "The Radical Geopolitics of US Foreign Policy: The 2003 Iraq
War." GeoJournal 75, no. 4 (2010): 327-337.