What’s disastrous? I’m Mr. Beat You may be wondering, why am I hanging out at some
random apartment complex? Well, this apartment complex isn’t random. It’s where I lived when I
found out that the United States had invaded Iraq. I was in college at the time. On March
19, 2003, I remember coming home after a long day at both class and work,
and turning on the TV to see this… my fellow citizen at this hour
American and Coalition forces are in the early stages of military
operations to disarm Iraq to free its people and to defend the world from
grave danger and I saw footage like this and reports like this it was just over
90 minutes Beyond President Bush's deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq that us
warships and planes launched the opening Salvo of operation Iraqi freedom and I remember
being filled with anger and frustration why was my government doing this wasn't this
an unjust War well I wasn't the only one who felt this way we live in a time
where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons we are against this war
Mr. Bush shame on you Mr Bush shame on you and anytime you've got the pop and the Dixie
Chicks against you your time is up thank you But as you could hear from the boos from those
Hollywood actors in the audience at the Oscars, many Americans thought this war
was JUST. Meaning it was…ok. So you know my bias, as you should
know my bias, but in this video, I’m going to try very hard to IGNORE
my bias to tell the story of one of the most controversial wars in
American history, The Iraq War. -Causes of the Iraq War-
It’s 1998. The country of Iraq is headed by a ruthless dictator named Saddam Hussein. A ruthless
dictator infamously known for killing as many as 250,000 of his own citizens, sometimes using
chemical weapons to do so. A ruthless dictator who had invaded a smaller country to the south in what
became known as The Persian Gulf War. (sing) I got a video about that! Yeah, Hussein was not a
nice dude, and by 1998, the United States was actively supporting efforts to remove him from
power. Heck, the United States Congress even passed a law that President Bill Clinton signed
(Iraq Liberation Act) calling for just that. After the United States accused Hussein of
developing weapons of mass destruction and after he refused to let the United Nations look
for them, Clinton ordered Operation Desert Fox, which led to the American military
dropping bombs on approximately 100 military sites around Iraq, killing
or wounding as many as 1400 Iraqis. Flash forward to September 11, 2001, the
day of the deadliest attack on American soil and the deadliest terrorist attack in world
history ever. I made a whole video about 9/11, as it’s more commonly called, but the gist of
it is that terrorists associated with al-Qaeda hijacked four planes with the goal of crashing
them into four prominent American buildings. They crashed two into the World Trade
Center and one into the Pentagon, ultimately killing nearly 3,000 people. In an
attempt to hunt down those responsible for 9/11, the United States government invaded Afghanistan
and fought a war there for 20 years. But it wasn’t just Afghanistan that the United States sent
troops. Oh no. With the Authorization for Use of Military Force, Congress gave President George
W. Bush the power to fight terrorism ALL OVER THE WORLD. In fact, the country has been fighting
the so-called “War on Terrorism” ever since. So what does 9/11 have to
do with Iraq? Well nothing. But MANY in the Bush Administration wanted to
link the two. In fact, they had been looking for an excuse to invade Iraq for YEARS, and perhaps
9/11 was their chance. One of the loudest voices to link 9/11 with Saddam Hussein was a dude named
Paul Wolfowitz, who served as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense at the time. He argued that
Hussein was helping terrorists around the world, and basically said that taking HIM out would
go far in ending terrorism around the world. Wolfowitz even compared Hussein to the head
of a snake. “It’s almost like cutting off the head of the snake, and the rest of the body
will go.” It wasn’t just Wolfowitz. His boss, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, also
was hoping this new War on Terrorism would give them a chance to take out Hussein. He began
going around telling the press stuff like this: they weaponized chemical weapons we know that
they've had an active program to develop nuclear weapons they uh it's also clear that they are
actively developing biological weapons I don't know what other kinds of weapons would fall under
the rubric of weapons of mass destruction but but if there are more I suspect they're working on
them as well even though I don't have to know what they are in this the big thing that was
there was the weapon of mass destruction issue and he had agreed and the UN had agreed that
they would he would not have a wmd program we know he does have one and he is continuing it soon
Vice President Dick Cheney was sounding the alarm about Hussein simply stated there is no doubt that
Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction there is no doubt that he is amassing them to
use them against our friends against our allies and against us oh there was plenty of Doubt but
sheney also was really wanting to go to war with Iraq and finally the president himself was now
sounding the alarm about Hussein pleading his case to the American people directly I take the
fact that he develops weapons of mass destruction very seriously I remember the fact that he has
invaded two countries before I know for a fact that he's poisoned his own people the regime
must allow witnesses to its illegal activities to be interviewed outside of the country these
Witnesses must be free to bring their entire families with them so they're beyond the reach
of Saddam Hussein's Terror Saddam Hussein's torture Saddam Hussein's murder in addition to
declaring and destroying all of its weapons of mass destruction C Iraq in accordance with un
Security Council demands must end its support for terrorism heck as early as January 29th
2002 during his State of the Union Address he was talking trash Iraq continues to flaun its
hostility toward America and to support Terror the Iraqi regime has plotted to develop Anthrax and
nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade I mean it’s no surprise, really, that President Bush wanted to take out Saddam
Hussein. Bush had hated Hussein for years, especially after Hussein threatened and possibly
even planned to kill his dad, George Bush, Sr. Anyway, and just so we’re clear here…even though
they had absolutely no evidence to back this up, the Bush administration just kept arguing that
Hussein not only had weapons of mass destruction, but was giving these weapons of mass destruction
to terrorists to attack the United States again. Well, this fear mongering
freaked Americans out, for sure. Including members of Congress.
Intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his
chemical and biological weapon stock his missile delivery capability and
his nuclear program he has also given Aid comfort and Sanctuary to
terrorists including Al-Qaeda members In October 2002, Congress passed the Authorization
of Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, which said that President Bush could send
troops into Iraq to take out Hussein’s government if needed. That said, the
law also “encouraged” diplomacy first, saying that the Bush administration
should work with the United Nations to see if Hussein would hand over weapons of
mass destruction before invading. It’s worth noting that most Americans wanted diplomacy
to be continued before any kind of invasion. Still, the British government and even the
United States Department of Defense found hardly any evidence of the development
of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. At this point, there’s quite a bit of evidence
that shows Bush was gonna invade Iraq whether his administration found weapons of
mass destruction there or not. Still, it’d be nice to at least get the United
Nations on board with it, amirite? In November 2002, the United Nations
sent weapons inspectors to Iraq but they ultimately never found any, even
after around 700 inspections, man. And yet, on February 5, 2003, the
well-respected Secretary of State, Colin Powell, who also happened to be
a general during the Persian Gulf War, made his case for invading Iraq to
the United Nations Security Council. The facts and Iraq's Behavior show that
Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass
destruction Saddam Hussein has no compunction about using them again against his neighbors
and against his own people and we have sources who tell us that he recently has authorized
his field commanders to use them he wouldn't be passing out the orders if he didn't
have the weapons or the intent to use them However, Hans Blix, the dude in charge
of the weapons inspections of Iraq, accused Powell and the entire Bush
administration, for that matter, of beating the war drums without sufficient
evidence. The CIA even investigated Blix in an apparent attempt to undermine him since
he was hurting support for an invasion. By March, even though UN inspections were still
ongoing and despite the fact that anti-war protests were building around the world,
the United States prepared for an invasion anyway. Many of the world’s most powerful
countries were against an invasion. Still, the Bush administration was able to put together
a multi-national force of at least 48 countries to help them overthrow Hussein. Together, they were
known as a “coalition of the willing.” In reality, most of these countries had little power and
would contribute little to the war effort. Indeed, unlike the Persian Gulf War that happened just
over 12 years prior, this was mainly a unilateral effort. Sure, the United Kingdom helped out
quite a bit, but this invasion would mainly just be by American forces. Heck, even the pope
was like, “yo dudes you sure you want to do this?” Regardless, what became known as
Operation Iraqi Freedom began on March 19, 2003 when the United
States began bombing Baghdad, Iraq’s capital. Two days later, American
and British troops invaded southern Iraq. -What went down in the Iraq War-
The invasion of Iraq lasted just over a month. As I said like a minute ago, it started
with airstrikes on Iraqi military bases and the Presidential Palace in Baghdad. It was a
surprise attack. There was no declaration of war or anything like that. According to Tommy
Franks, the general who led the invasion, Operation Iraqi Freedom had eight goals:
Taking out Saddam Hussein Finding and getting rid of Iraq’s
supposed weapons of mass destruction Looking for and getting rid
of terrorists in the country Well that could, uh…take a while, couldn’t it? Gathering intelligence to
destroy global terrorist networks Gathering intelligence to find weapons
of mass destruction around the world Ending sanctions and getting humanitarian
support to Iraqi citizens presumably hurt under Hussein’s control
Securing Iraq’s oil fields Ok ok ok. I know what’ you’re thinking, but Franks
said that American troops would secure this oil for the Iraqi people…(shrugs) I don’t know
And finally… Helping the Iraqi people transition
to a representative democracy Approximately 160,000 troops, again mostly
American and British troops, landed in southern Iraq beginning on March 21, 2003. They
met little resistance. Only Hussein’s most loyal supporters fought back, many of them fighting back
in Basra. Still, the Americans and British fairly easily defeated them and soon worked their way
northwest, up through the Tigris-Euphrates river system toward Baghdad, skipping over areas
where resistance was stronger. By April 4, American forces had taken over Baghdad’s
international airport. Iraq’s Republican Guard defended Baghdad, but its defense was very
disorganized. American forces bombarded and raided the city in what became known as the Battle of
Baghdad. By April 9, American soldiers had already taken control of the city. Kurdish fighters from
the north helped the Ameicans capture the northern Iraqi cities of Kirkuk and Mosul by April 11.
And finally, Saddam’s home city of Tikrīt fell on April 13. Isolated groups of soldiers loyal to
Hussein continued to fight in the following days, but by the end of the month the United States had
controlled basically most of Iraq. The initial invasion cost the lives of nearly 13,000
Iraqis and just 172 coalition soldiers. On May 1, 2003, President Bush made
his now infamous, televised “Mission Accomplished speech” aboard the USS Abraham
Lincoln, just off the coast of San Diego. In case you were wondering, San Diego is on
the opposite side of the world as Iraq. major combat operations in Iraq have ended in
the Battle of Iraq the United States and our allies have [Applause] prevailed now I know
this speech has become a meme at this point you know it basically comes up anytime anyone
declares Victory too early in a crisis but it's worth noting that bush also said the following
in this speech we have difficult work to do in Iraq and boy was that an understatement little
did Bush know that this war would go on for the next 8 years meanwhile Saddam Hussein
and his inner circle had gone into hiding we thought the war was over and we celebrated and
we'd won the war eaten ice cream and I thought they would hate us but they didn't you know
they didn't start hating us until we stayed If the coalition forces had just left on May
1st, perhaps this war wouldn’t have been so controversial. One Gallup poll found that 79%
of Americans thought the war had been justified, with or WITHOUT clear evidence
of weapons of mass destruction. And yet, the Americans stayed…the
insurgency portion of the war had now begun. An insurgent is a person who revolts against
a government or authority. Soon after Bush declared victory on May 1, 2003, the first, armed
insurgents began to attack American soldiers. In the beginning, these insurgents were just Saddam
Hussein loyalists refusing to surrender. However, soon the insurgents were Islamist extremists
seeing the overthrow of Hussein as an opportunity to create an Islamist government. Oh hey
speaking of Hussein, American forces were soon closing in on him. They had killed his
sons Uday and Qusay in a shootout in Mosul, as well as killed or captured at least 300 of his
top leaders in his government. On December 13, 2003, they found Hussein hiding on a farm
just outside Tikrit. He surrendered and the new Iraqi government found him guilty
of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to death by hanging. You can watch the
footage of it online. I’m not even joking. Anyway, even though American forces had captured
Hussein, insurgency was on the rise, and now many of the insurgents were Iraqis mad about the
occupying forces refusing to leave. Kidnappings, murders, car bombs, suicide bombings, and highway
blasts caused by improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, became much more common and increasingly
put the lives of American soldiers at risk. Things got worse in April 2004, when word got out about
American soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. This led to a flood of Islamist
militants into Baghdad. And talk about bad timing. This all went down when the American military
was trying to prop up a new Iraqi government. Meanwhile, the Iraq War hadn’t hurt President Bush’s popularity too much…yet.
He’d win re-election in 2004. But if Americans knew how bad the war
would get over the next two years, he likely would not have gotten re-elected. In 2005, millions of Iraqis voted
to draft a new constitution and vote for new representatives and a
president. But uh…that didn’t go so well. Sunnis boycotted the elections,
resulting in the Shiites gaining power. Oh wait, you may not know
what the words “Sunni” and “Shiite” mean. Oh crap. I guess I’d
better explain what they mean, eh? Sunni Islam is just a branch of Islam, the
largest branch of Islam, as a matter of fact. Shia Islam is the second-largest branch. Iraq
is unique in that the country has a fairly even divide between Shiites and Sunnis within its
borders. One big development during the Iraq War was actually a smaller conflict within
a bigger one- radicalized Iraqi Shiites and Iraqi Sunnis began attacking each other. Sunnis
accused Shitte leaders of killing Sunni leaders and blowing up bombs in Sunni neighborhoods.
Sunnis retaliated, and the cycle of violence spiraled out of control, especially after the
bombing of the al-Askari Shrine on February 22, 2006. At one point Baghdad became so violent
that it averaged around 33 deaths a day. Most of the violence, though, was based
in the Sunni-dominated areas of Iraq, particularly in the provinces of Al Anbar and
Saladin. By the end of 2006, all of this violence and destruction had led to the displacement
of hundreds of thousands of ordinary Iraqis. One spot where insurgents were
particularly active during the Iraq War was Ramadi, in the Al Anbar province. For six months in 2006, American forces fought
al-Qaeda in the city in what became known as the Battle of Ramadi. Uhhh yeah. You heard that right.
Al-Qaeda. One particularly crazy development that happened during the war was al-Qaeda showing up to
Iraq for the first time. Yep. They weren’t there before, and no links were ever found between
the Hussein regime and al-Qaeda, but after the overthrow of the Hussein regime and after American
occupation not only are they there but they be recruiting. Oh, and THEY also now had Saddam’s
old chemical weapons from back in the day. Now that al-Qaeda was actually
IN Iraq, President Bush was like, well uh…maybe we should send MORE troops eh? And that’s exactly what happened. In January
2007, Bush announced plans for a Surge. No, not the soda pop. A surge, as in a quick increase in
the number of American troops in Iraq to restore security there. He sent 30,000 additional troops
and extended deployments by 3 months. Well, 2007 ended up being the deadliest year for American
forces since 2004, but stability did follow and insurgent attacks went down afterward, though it’s
not clear if it was because of the surge or not. On February 10, 2007, General David Petraeus
took over as leader of the coalition forces. His leadership had been one of the few success stories
during the war, much of it centered around his focus on rebuilding the country’s infrastructure
and redirecting funding directly to Iraqis. Still, by 2008, most Americans
were done with this war. Polls now showed that a clear majority of
Americans were against it and wanted the troops home. And not only did the war
hurt the popularity of George W. Bush, but it hurt the popularity of the entire
Republican Party. Barack Obama won the presidential election of 2008, in fact, promising
to end the Iraq War. That said, around that time, the Iraqi parliament had already established
a timetable to withdraw American forces. In February 2009, the newly-elected President
Obama said all American combat forces would be out of Iraq by August 31, 2010. Well,
this happened two weeks ahead of schedule. I am announcing that the American combat
mission in Iraq has ended operation Iraqi freedom is over and the Iraqi people now have lead
responsibility for the security of their country That said, around 50,000 American soldiers remained in Iraq to help with the
Iraqi military fully taking over. By that time, the whistleblower media organization
WikiLeaks had released footage of what became known as the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike. The
video, which WikiLeaks called Collateral Murder, showed American troops aboard an Apache
helicopter firing on and killing journalists and other civilians. This footage, as well
as 400,000 secret American military documents from the war released by WikiLeaks later on that
year, further turned Americans against the war. In October 2011, President Obama announced
that the last 39,000 American soldiers in Iraq would leave the country by the end of 2011. And I wish that was the end
of the story, but it’s not. You see, almost as soon as American troops left,
a power vacuum happened and insurgency once again went on the rise in Iraq. Sunni extremists
stepped up attacks against the Shiite majority, and soon many of them teamed up
with Islamist extremists in Syria, a country bordering Iraq to the north
which had its own civil war going on. Well, long story short, this all
ultimately led to ANOTHER FREAKING WAR. That’s right. The Iraq War led to the War in Iraq. By December 30, 2013, the insurgency had turned
into all-out guerrilla warfare all across western Iraq with the rise of the Islamic State, aka
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, aka the Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria, aka ISIS. By the end of 2015, ISIS controlled an area where millions
of Iraqis lived. The Iraqi government eventually defeated them by 2019, but only
after coalition forces returned to aid them. In fact, today, and I bet you didn’t know this, there are still around 2,500 American soldiers
stationed in Iraq to assist Iraqi soldiers there. -The legacy of the Iraq War- By most accounts, the Iraq War was a disaster. Likely at least a million people died directly
because of it. It led to the displacement of millions of Iraqis. It cost TRILLIONS of dollars.
Not billions. TRILLIONS. It led to one of the biggest humanitarian crises in modern history,
and today the Iraqis are still recovering from its devastation, although, to be fair, things
are WAY better there than they used to be. Similar to the Vietnam War
which happened 30 years prior, The Iraq War further eroded American trust
in their government. Today most of us view it as an unnecessary war…a war that just
made things worse for everyone involved. By invading and conquering Iraq in 2003 and
then occupying it for nine years after that, the United States ended up destabilizing
not only the entire country, but the entire freaking region. Before the war, there was no
proven connection between the Iraqi government and al-Qaeda. And yet, this war was so
disastrous that it literally…ironically, you could say…CAUSED al-Qaeda to take
over major parts of Iraq. Holy crap. The Iraq War hurt the international
reputation of not only the United States but also the United Kingdom. It
hurt global efforts to fight terrorism. Heck, the Iraq War made the majority of
Americans sick of wars in general. After that, when the American government tried to drum
up support for war in a foreign country in the name of “spreading democracy” or “nation
building,” most Americans just didn’t fall for it anymore. And not just Democrats. I’d
argue that just as many Republicans today say the Iraq War was a mistake as Democrats,
as demonstrated by the rise of Donald Trump, who has made no secret of his
dissatisfaction with that war. But perhaps that’s one silver
lining of the Iraq War. Before it, we were just more likely to fall for
an unjust war. After it, we weren’t. In 2003, when I lived in these apartments, I was
young and an idiot. (turning to look back) But even back then I knew this war was unjust.
Ok well, for the record I’m still an idiot. Obviously, I left a lot out, and as always, I
encourage you to research The Iraq War further. I’ve listed some sources in the description.
Again, I’m biased. I lived during the Iraq War. I have family and friends who were actually
IN the Iraq War. Obviously I’m gonna have an opinion about it. Anyway, I did the best I
could. I appreciate you watching. Bye bye now. Bye bye
