FAQ Global #1

1. Why did we go to war in Iraq and what will happen if we lose the war?

There were several reasons for the war in Iraq.

First, for several years, Iraq had been in violation of multiple United Nations resolutions on issues including inspections of its weapons of mass destruction capabilities. In early 2003, the UN issued its 17th resolution, Resolution 1441, to give Iraq a final opportunity to comply with inspections before punitive action would be taken, an opportunity which Saddam Hussein refused when he failed to comply.

Second, reliable intelligence from a number of countries suggested that Saddam Hussein had developed stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons which he had already used against his own people when he used chemical gas to murder the Kurdish residents of northern Iraq. The attacks of 9/11 proved that there were terrorist groups in the world with the same vision of mass murder in the United States, and so the administration determined that it was too dangerous to allow an anti-American dictator such as Saddam Hussein - who had already attempted to assassinate an American president - to remain in possession of such weapons, unaccounted for by international inspectors. While he was unlikely to attack the United States himself, he shared the terrorists' desire to injure and insult America. American leaders therefore believed that he may be likely to give or sell his weapons to interested terrorist groups. Since the invasion of Iraq, these weapons have not been found. But the near-unanimity of international intelligence organizations supporting the claim that he had stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons , along with additional evidence, suggests that they may have been destroyed or removed from the country in the early days of the war.

Finally, the United States believed that if Saddam Hussein were overthrown and a democratic government established in his place, this could be an example to the rest of the Middle East to stimulate additional reform and help reduce the forces that support a dangerous ideology of hate. The war in Iraq has not yet been won, but is increasingly being fought by Western and Iraqi forces, created and trained to defend their own homeland. Some people in the United States think that the American military should withdraw from Iraq, but if we withdraw before Iraqi security is achieved, the government will be unlikely to have the capability to preserve order and stability. The country could easily devolve into a civil war and even become controlled by radical Islamists, just as the Taliban had controlled Afghanistan, creating a destabilizing force in a strategically important region. Additionally, the Islamist vision would achieve new energy and prestige after driving the powerful American military out of the Middle East, attracting new converts and demoralizing the American people and our allies.