Iraq - Unjustified War

Title: The Iraq War Topic: Why Iraq War was an unnecessary and unjustified war. Thesis: Iraq war waged for all the wrong reasons from weapons of mass destruction to liberation, and the only way to undo our misdeeds is by removing President Bush from office. Purpose: I want my audience to believe that the Iraq war was an unnecessary war and was not a war for finding weapons of mass destruction or liberating Iraqi people.

I. Introduction
A. Whether you switch on the TV or flip through your morning newspaper, you will find something eerily common – Iraq-war casualties. Everyday, you read something about a civilian hostage being killed or soldier’s ambushed by militants.
B. Iraq is one of the biggest events of our generation that will effect us for a long time to come, both financially and the way world perceives us.
C. I am a news junkie, and I read at least around 5 to 7 different news papers everyday and magazines like Newsweek and Time. I also read international news reports from BBC, Guardian, to Times of India to broaden my knowledge regarding both national and international policies. Most of these news reports cover exclusively about war in Iraq and how it was a failure - from daily deaths: both civilian and military, rising costs, dissension among Iraqis, low troop morale, and uncertainty of Iraqi future. I was actually pro-Iraq war, but the continuing events have forced me to change my stance regarding the second gulf war.
D. Today, I will be talking about why Iraq war was an unjustified war.
1. Iraq war was waged on lies and by deceiving the American public. In the beginning the war was waged to find and destroy weapons of mass destruction, then to liberate the Iraq people from Saddam Hussein, and now to bring democracy throughout the Middle East.
2. One way to undo the mistakes done by the current administration is to remove it from the office. By removing President Bush from the office we might be able to do at least some damage control and restore the faith of the world in America.
3. We can do our part by voting in the coming November elections, and letting our voices and dissatisfaction known to the Bush Administration.

Transition: Now that I have gone over why Iraq war was unjustified and what we can we can do about it, let me explain why the war was waged on lies and deceit.

II. We were told that gulf war was waged because Iraq was producing Weapons of Mass Destruction and that there was a nexus between Saddam and Al-Quaida. We were also told that we were freeing the people of Iraq from Saddam’s tyranny.

A. Our first reason to invade Iraq was that it was producing weapons of mass destruction.
1. According to CIA, Iraq had stockpiles of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.
a) On January 27, 2003 and on June 5, 2003, UN Weapon’s inspector Hans Blix told Security Council that he found no evidence that Iraq resumed its nuclear program.
b) On October 2 2003, U.S. weapons inspector David Kay told congressional intelligence committees that his team did not find any WMD’s in Iraq.
2. President Bush alleged that Saddam and Al-quaida had a link.
a) According to the 9-11 commission, there was “no collaborative relationship between Saddam Hussein and the al-quaida terrorist network responsible for the attacks.
b) In fact it found that it was Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that gave safe haven to Taliban and al-quaida.
3. Freeing the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein.
a) Although we removed Saddam Hussein from power, but in doing so we have severely hurt the pride of Iraqis and that they need a foreign power to solve their problems.
b) Iraqis believe that we are now the new Occupiers, and they don’t want to be occupied.

Transition: As we look back we see that Iraq was an unnecessary war and how it was waged on false premises, now we will talk can be done about it.

III. Although, the damage done by Bush’s administration is irreversible there are still some solutions that can minimize the pain of Iraq war including removing President Bush from the office and involving World community in Iraq.
A. Remove President Bush from the office.
1. The best solution to the current Iraq crisis is removing President Bush from the office.
a) President Bush is seen as a dictator and an arrogant leader around the world. By removing him from the office, we would be able to show the world and Iraqis our discontent with the current administration.
b) His removal would send a new message to Iraqis and the world that the Americans are very serious about the problems faced by Iraqis.
c) Also, by removing him we would be saying to the world that we opposed Bush’s unilateral war on Iraq.
2. Elect John Kerry as the new President of the United States.
a) John Kerry has an elaborate plan in rescuing Iraq from current crisis. His policy includes involves creating a NATO mission in Iraq. A NATO mission would be able to provide security throughout Iraq, which the current U.S. government alone cannot do it.
b) John Kerry also intends to involve major powers of the world and the UN in deciding the future course of Iraq. By sharing military and financial burden and commitment, we would showing the world that America is not going to it alone, but rather would do it together with the rest of the world.
B. UN involvement.
1. United Nations is seen as a peacekeeping organization with no aggressive ambitions.
a) UN troops could comprise of Arab soldiers from friendly neighboring nations to calm and assure the Iraqi population.
b) UN troops could be used to maintain law and order throughout the country until, Iraqi police and military are capable of managing their nation.

Transition: Now that we have talked on what can be done about Iraq war, now lets look at what the solutions that we talked can lead to.

IV. If the previously said solutions are utilized we can see minimizing of the effects of Iraq war.
A. The benefits of the above solutions include more stability in Iraq and restoration of faith in international community on America.
1. If President Bush were removed, the world community would be less skeptical of America. The American image would seriously improve as it was seriously shattered by President Bush’s unilaterism. America was since seen as Imperialist, ever since it invaded Iraq, and Bush was seen as the torchbearer of that imperialistic image.
2. A more diversified UN peacekeeping and NATO troops can maintain law and order throughout Iraq, and increase confidence of common Iraqis not only in the international community but also among themselves. Which would lead to conduct business without fear of robbery, kidnapping, or looting that is now so frequent in Iraqi streets.
B. If these solutions are not implemented we can see severe breakdown of law and order and complete distrust of America in world community.
1. There would be a complete breakdown of law and order in Iraq. Kidnapping, looting, robber, taking hostages, and ambushes would be more frequent in Iraq. There would be a complete anarchy.
2. The world community would see us an imperialist nation, who does not work for the good of the world, but has its own ambitions of taking over the world. Americans would be hated around the world, and we will be unwelcome everywhere.

Transition: Now that we saw what benefits the Iraqis would get if we act on the above solutions lets talk about what we as individuals can do about it.

V. One thing that all of us here can do to undo the mistake of Iraq war is to vote.

A. One of the most important assets that you have that can affect the future course of America’s foreign policy is voting.
1. Most young voters believe that their votes don’t matter and that nobody would listen to them.
2. The fact is there are 20 million young voters in United States, and if majority of them vote they can seriously change the way America dictates its both national and foreign policy.
B. Voting and encouraging others to vote in elections
1. You can vote in the coming Presidential Election in November.
2. You can encourage other’s to vote. It could be your friends, families, or relatives.
3. You can join MTV’s “choose or loose” program, where you try to register young voters in concerts, events, online, and everywhere. You also take part in vote election programs, and vote campaigns.

Iraq war was a Vietnam of our generation, which seriously maligned American reputation around the world. History has already been repeated once, we shouldn’t let it happen again.