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How did The War start?
like the war in iraq and stuff. i dont get it.. did it start when 9/11 started? and no dont tell me to research because i dont get what the journalists say and stuff.. im only 13 so put it in a way i'd understand, please. like basically how did the war start, what happened during the war and why hasnt it ended yet and stuff?
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I'm twenty years older than you and I don't even get all of the ins and outs of this war. The timeline people will think is relevant includes some embassy bombings and the bombing of a US battleship in Oman in the 1990's by al Queda. Al Queda is a group of terrorists or freedom fighters, depending on whose side you are on, who want to punish America and consider America to be an "Evil Empire" and to be an affront to God (as interpreted through their Islamic extremist beliefs). Relevant to this war is a history of war in the Middle East, including Jordan, Egypt, Palastein, and Israel. Many groups accuse America of showing preference to the Israelis. Indeed, we have sanctioned (stopped giving financial assistance to and banned trade with) Palastein and their Arab peoples. We have not punished Israel for the same issues and we tend to turn a blind eye when Israel invades Palasteinian territories. Some people think it's because Jews are prominent, wealthy citizens in America (some take that to the extreme and say Jews own all the power in America). Some people think it's because we feel guilt that we didn't stop the Holocaust sooner. Some think we just hate Arabs. I think it's probably a blend of the above.
Anyway, Al Queda, thinking we are evil, and in protest of our apparent favoritism toward the Israelis and against their Arab enemies, declared war on the US. There were the embassy bombings in the 1990's and then there was the first bombing of the World Trade Center, I believe in 1999. Our government spied on Al Queda and worked in secret to destablize them until the 2001 WTC bombings. Some reports say that our government was aware of the perported bombings and just allowed them to happen in order to sway American's opinions toward going to war with Arabian nations.
Bush pretended the WTC hijackings/bombings were linked to Iraq and invaded on the pretense that Sadaam Hussein was trying to produce nuclear weapons or, weapons of mass destruction. He knew that to be false before he went in, according to testimony given before congress. He wanted to depose Sadaam Hussein because Hussein was a horrible leader - he killed a fraction of his population because they were members of the wrong tribe, he ruled ruthlessly, he destabilized the political relations in the mideast (like with Syria, Lebanon, and Iran), and he had that history of giving Gerorge Bush the First the middle finger during the First Gulf War, when Sadaam invaded our alli and oil supplier, Kuwait.
Bush pretended that his goal was to bring democracy to Iraq. That seems like a noble goal, but in Iraq, the leader is thought to have been chosen by God and their religious ideology does not allow for the people to choose a leader through voting. It's not what they think they're supposed to do. Now, by deposing Hussein and allowing the new government of his country to hang him publicly, there has been quite a stir in Iraq. The people who were in power under Hussein were from a tribe that is a minority in number. Those people are now fighting for their lives against the formerly oppressed majority (those two factions come from different tribes and are ethnically different). By removing Hussein, we have taken away some oppression, but we have allowed the factions to start a bloody scramble for power and wealth.
Back to Afghanistan, we started the war there to take out Al Queda and it's supporter, the Taliban. The Taliban is a fundamentalist religious organization who rules/d Afghanistan according to their interpretation of Islamic rules. They oppress women and rule very strictly based upon the Koran (Islamic Bible). For example, under the Taliban, women must be covered completely except for their eyes in public. They cannot go out of the house without a male relative. Their fathers arrange their marrages and women are not allowed to go to school, work, or drive. The woman is property. She can be divorced by her husband without cause simply by him saying "I divorce thee" three times in a row. Then she has to go back to her family and beg for a living. Accused shoplifters are punished by having a hand chopped off. Women accused of cheating on their husbands are stoned to death in public. Now that the Taliban's grasp on the country is weakened, Afghanistan is back to what it was before the Taliban took over - they supply a large percentage of the poppy flowers which are used to make illegal morphine, heroin, and other opiate drugs for the whole world market. We have killed a whole lot of Afghanistanis and caused a lot of trouble there all on the basis that Osama bin Ladin was there when the WTC attacks were planned and that the Taliban was helping Al Queda.
Now, Osama bin Ladin was the mastermind behind the WTC attacks and was in Afghanistan, likely. He was a Saudi Arabian billionaire who was frustrated with the fact that his own country and the ruling family, the Sauds, were friendly with the "Evil Empire" of the US and traded with them even though we supported the mortal enemy of the Arabs, the Jews (or Israelis). There are good reasons for the Palastenians to hate the Jews. The main one is that they have been in a land war for decades and the country of Israel was *created* out of land taken from Arab countries in the 1950s after the Holocaust and WWII on the basis that the Old Testament calls the Jews "God's chosen people" and promises them the land that used to be theirs but which was taken over centuries ago by Arabs. There are a lot of families displaced and people justifiably upset by this action. Anyway, it turned out the Bin Ladin fled into Pakistan, a neighboring country, from Afghanistan while the US was still stinging from 9/11 and trying to figure out who was responsible and what to do about it. At one point, US forces had him tracked down, but waited a few hours so the Pakistani army could swoop in and arrest Bin Ladin, but he slipped away before they could arrest him. He's now in hiding and does a new videotape of himself to be broadcast urging the Arabs to continue fighting the Evil Empire every couple of years. He is still allegedly planning attacks.
So in this war, we have destabilized Iraq and are having problems now with Iran, Syria, and Pakistan. We have made it so that the farmers of Afghanistan, in order to survive, have turned back to their old industry of growing poppies for the drug trade. We have alienated a whole bunch of allies, such as the French, and embarassed ourselves with things like Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib (prisons where we have violated human rights of people who were never given trials for the crimes they are suspected of). Scooter Libby, one of Bush's advisors, is convicted of lying to congress about something only vaguely related to the war, but it's pretty much believed to be true that we were all lied to about the supposed intelligence on weapons of mass destruction that were thought to be in Iraq, but were not found when we invaded the country.
It's a mess. It's cost hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars to fight this war and the country is no "safer for democracy" than it was when we started. Osama bin Ladin is tucked safely away. I can't believe that in six years's time a country with a military like ours can't find and destroy any one man on the planet.
Some people think the wars were orchestrated not to make the world safe for democracy, but to depose leaders we don't trust and install some who would be more favorable to us - like sell us oil at cheaper prices.
There are too many reports and facts out there to pore through. We will likely never find out the objective truth. Just keep trying to understand. Everything that I have said is the truth as I understand it, but may not be the objective truth. One lesson you will learn in life is that perception means a lot and I can be telling the truth as I know it and someone else can be telling the truth as s/he knows it, with neither party lying, and the stories won't match up. Even when we get the truth, it is rarely the whole truth. All we can do is try to figure out what makes sense to us. It's a tough job and some people just quit trying to sort through the lies and half-truths. They give up and say they're not into politics or it doesn't matter what they think or how they feel.
I think we should all try to understand, try to find the truth, and keep voting (when you can).
Sabine
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When 9/11 happened, President Bush [ew] went to Afghanistan & basically ruined them. Then he was "positive" that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction so he invaded them & eventually took down their leader.
Some people are saying that this is about oil, and not terrorism anymore, but they could be wrong. I honestly think the president is an idiot & his intentions were no good. Instead of doing what's right for his country, he's trying to be SuperMan & save others. That may sound selfish, but it's true. Yes, other countries have lots of problems, but what about ours? You can't just help someone else and not yourself.
The war hasn't ended yet because Iraq doesn't have a steady government & President Bush fears that if we leave, it'll go back to exactly how it used to be. And we're still looking for Osama Bin Laden, so until we find him & get Iraq a good, steady government, then this war won't be over for a while. I hope that clears everything up!
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Okay, I'll try to put this simply.
9/11 happened, we invaded Afghanistan.
President Bush claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (nuclear weapons) and asked the UN for permission to go in. The UN said no, he went anyway, which is why just about every country but England is against the war. Weapons of mass destruction were never found and now we are there trying to make Iraq into a democracy. It's never gonna work, and this war isn't going to end anytime soon. You can't just end a war and say "Okay, it's over". It's a complicated process and while George Bush is in office, it won't happen...but if the war continues, the possibility of a draft grows stronger. It hasn't ended because Bush doesn't feel his job is done.
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the 9/11 thing is different i think. that was to do with afganistan. i think USA went to iraq to help calm the people down because of saddam hussein , but im not sure. people say george bush went there for oil, he might have done, and stupidly, the uk's primeminister(uk)-tony blair followed with america's idea because he really loves to fly the stars and stripes...even though he should have listened to what us uk people said....but hes a jakass anyways...... hope i helped 15/m :D :D !#~
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