It was February 2010 when my family and I found ourselves on a plane to an underdeveloped country that was in horrific condition. The country, Iraq, is about seven-thousand miles from the United States. The plane ride was an exhausting sixteen hours, but it would all come to be worth it when the journey was over. Most Americans know Iraq as a nation involved in corruption and wars. However, when I visited Iraq, I learned a whole new understanding of the country. I experienced a country that was struggling from past dictators who neglected the citizens and abused their positions. This showed me that the consensus is not always the truth and that you must experience something to understand it. The reason for this trip was a religious ceremony
called the Fortieth of Ashura. Muslims make this pilgrimage in remembrance of Imam Hussein, who sacrificed himself in 680 in a battle that took place in the city of Karbala. In the ceremony as many as eight million people from around the world journey to Iraq to walk from wherever they are staying to the shrine of the apostle. I made the walk from Baghdad to Karbala, a journey of seventy miles. I saw some things that most would never see in a country such as the U.S., such as buildings in ruins from explosions, extreme poverty, malnourished children and adults, uneducated people, and military squads with tanks roaming through the streets. Out of all these foreign things, what changed me the most was witnessing the extreme poverty. The images of extreme it, such as families living in tents and malnourished children, have taught me to help in my community because things that might be simple to middle class families in countries that are not bothered by war and terrorism are extremely valuable to people in places such as Iraq. While I was in Iraq, I experienced seeing a close friend of my dad's whose Family lives in a tent about the size of a trailer without electricity or running water. The lack of both jobs and government support keeps this family in poverty. The trip motivated me to change my life. When I returned from Iraq, I placed in my room a donation box in which I drop spare change for a special organization in the Middle East that supports orphans. I now participate in community service such as the Thanksgiving drive at my school and the reconstruction of houses destroyed in Katrina. This experience had a huge effect on me because I have now seen an extreme side of humanity that most people only hear about, and it made me feel depressed that people have to live in such conditions because of corruption, dictatorship, and war. This trip has encouraged me to raise awareness of corruption by demonstrating against it with people from my mosque. We marched in front of the Riverwalk with signs and pictures that exposed the horrors of dictatorship in the Middle East. Such actions have led me to think about social justice and activism. Moving on in my life I will continue to apply these lessons to make the world a better place.
Denise Grady’s (2006) article sound a strong wake up call for the American government and for the American public to re-evaluate their guiding principles towards war in Iraq and the continued presence of the American soldiers in the Iraqi soil. Grady delineated the enormous damages the war had costs in not only monetary terms but also the future of thousands of promising young and talented men and women sent in the Iraq War; that had no clear benefits to them or the American people.
The Iraq war, also known as the second Gulf War, is a five-year, ongoing military campaign which started on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by U.S. troops. One of the most controversial events in the history of the western world, the war has caused an unimaginable number of deaths, and spending of ridiculous amounts of money. The reason for invasion war Iraq’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction, which eventually was disproved by weapons inspectors. Many people question George W. Bush’s decision to engage a war in Iraq, but there might be greater reason why the decision was made. The ideas of George W. Bush might have been sculpted by one of the greatest works of all time, "The Prince."
Throughout the years many eyebrow-raising statements have been brought up concerning the war, which quickly begins to make any war effort basis appear shallow and weak. Peter Baker, a former White House correspondent, wrote a book in which an anonymous senior Bush administration official is quoted saying, “The only reason we went into Iraq, I tell people now, is we were looking for somebody’s ass to kick.” In addition, General John Abizaid, a former head of U.S. Central Command and Military Operations in Iraq for 2007 said, “Of course it's about oil; we can't really deny that," in and interview with CNN (Juhasz 1). With such startling statements over the years...
In September 1980, Iraq invaded Iran because of a territorial dispute. This led to a long drawn out war that cost many lives and billions of dollars in damages, with either side unable to claim victory. This paper will focus on the three things that distinguish this war from previous wars. First, it was an excessively protracted and attritive war, lasting eight years, essentially destabilizing the region and devastating both countries. Second, it was a disproportionate war in regards to the means employed by either side. Iraq was supported by Kuwait, the United States, and several other Western European countries, allowing them to acquire advanced weapons and expert training (History.com staff, 2009). Lastly, this war used three modes of warfare not seen in previous wars: ballistic-missile attacks, the use of chemical weapons, and attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf (History.com staff, 2009).
June 6th, 1944, we were on the HMAS castlemaine boat, our General, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was about done with his speech and was ready to send us in. We were in our Landing Craft Assault boats, heading towards the Omaha beach in Normandy, France. In our LCA boats we fit about 15-20 men but, when we go to Omaha there will be 30,000 soldiers, if we all make it in alive. I was facing the battle known as operation D-Day.
Twenty four hours and a two plane rides were the only obstacles standing in my way…. Oh, and about three-dozen insurgents.
It is not every day you see a three-year-old walking around the park or grocery store clutching the soggy ear of a plush Winnie the Pooh that has been sucked on in one hand, and a photograph of a disabled veteran in the other. Nonetheless, if you were in my neighborhood that is exactly what you would have seen.
It has been years, decades maybe since the war started, then ended with flaming spheres of fire and destruction raining from the sky. The war was fought on many sides and we don't know who started it but what does it matter now. Cities turned to wastelands completely uninhabitable, our capital is now rubble and our leader is gone, our whole system is gone. There are some survivors who have worked together to set up new settlements and then those who have taken control of the people threatening them if they don't comply. The people are now starving and the water is drying up; we ask for aid, but with no hope in sight and were tired of waiting. A tyrant has risen up and now she must be stopped.
At the end of my sophomore year, I signed up for a conversation group to see how it would be like to be in the forest for 5 weeks with complete strangers.When I arrived to the camp in Leavenworth, Washington I was scared and excited at the same time, it was a weird feeling to have.When I saw my Mom and Dad left me at the camp I knew I was now all alone with complete strangers that I have only met for 15 minutes.I felt alone, lost, scared that I would be here in washington with complete strangers but, it wasn’t hard because everyone at the camp was nice and helpful with meeting everyone. The next day we were separated into groups there was orange crew, blue crew, yellow cew, red crew, and rainbow crew. I was apart of the orange crew and we were
I don’t want to die. I’ve been sitting here for eight hours in total silence in the humid jungle, sweating, itching, and waiting. I know the enemies out there, I can feel their presence. It’s only a matter of time before someone blows their cover and all hell breaks loose. It’s already been a year and three months since I volunteered. I came here so sure of who the enemy was, but after a year of being in the war, I realize I regret my decision of joining the war. I remember the ride to basic training.
I had the dream again, flashbacks from 1949. I had just been drafted to fight in World War II, at the young age of twenty. I was filled with American pride ready to take a stand for what was right; justice, freedom, and liberty.
The sounds of the helicopters hovering above persisted as we lay in bed trying to sleep on the top floor of a very old monastery in northern Iraq. Some would find it traumatizing but I call it my childhood. Growing up in a war torn country really impacted my life and how I viewed the world. Years of oppression, no one was allowed to voice their opinion, that was the country I grew up in. A childhood is something someone grows cherishing, thinking this is how he or she would want his or her future children to be raised. This fact is not true in my life, growing up in Baghdad really made me learn to mature at a very young age. With project Desert Storm embarking and the war was just in our backyard it was hard not to see the pain that our family and friends were going
Iraq’s non-cooperation with inspection agencies by obstructing the inspection from 1997 to 2002 resulted in massive international pressure and strengthening the USA’s doubts on Iraq. The apprehension between the USA and Iraq can be considered decisive, since the USA alleged Iraq as a threat to global stability.... ... middle of paper ... ... Most of the regional actors discarded the U.S. policy towards Iraq with varying intensity as they feared insecurity after Iraq’s disintegration (Reuters, 2003). Jordan decided not to endanger its rewarding ties with Washington. Another key actor at this level is the Baathi party in Iraq which was based on tribal division, domestic oppression and economic enticement.
The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a US-led coalition. The US wanted to destroy Saddam Hussein’s regime and bring democracy. To addition to that, US and its allies believed that Iraq had secret stocks of chemical and nuclear weapons, hence Iraq was a threat to the world (Axford 2010). In March 2003, US air bombed Baghdad and Saddam escaped Iraq. The invasion disarmed the government of Saddam Hussein. President Bush in March 2003 gave a premature speech, that tyrant of Iraq has fallen and US has freed its people. President Bush flew into Iraq to show the world that the war is over, even though nothing was accomplished (Kirk et al. 2014). Iraq was facing 13 years of scantions, therefore regime diverted its resources to flexible networks of patronage that kept it in power (Dodge 2007, 88). Iraq faced widespread of lawlessness and after the violent regime changed US could not control the situation. Iraqi civilians were looting, attacking ministries building and this resulted into a series of event (Kirk et al. 2014) . From a military perspective the regime was taken down, but they made no commitment to rebuild or secure the country.
We caught up with Amir to discuss what life was like back in Afghanistan and what he’s currently doing now as he’s living in San Francisco.