Magazine, website & books written by teens since 1989

The Iraq War: Causes and Effects

Many people have different opinions about the Iraq War. Some believe that our nation shouldn’t have gotten involved in the affairs of other countries at all, while others support the war completely. Still others think that the government was right to take action, but that the time has come now to pull out of Iraq. Despite these opinions however, the truth of the matter is that we did in fact get involved with the issues in Iraq and there is nothing we can do now to change that. We can however, learn the reasons out country had for taking action and what effects these actions had on us, those in Iraq and the rest of the world.

One reason for the involvement of the U.S. in Iraq is that it has developed and may possess weapons of mass destruction. The country also has a history of aggression against its neighbors. Iraq has used poison gas against Iran and even against its own citizens. In a speech in Cincinnati, Bush said that “Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction are controlled by a murderous tyrant who has already used chemical weapons to kill thousands of people. Iraq has also sponsored international terrorism. It was directed primarily against Iran, the PLO, Israel and other Arab countries, but it is possible that this may grow to also include other countries, like the U.S. Up till today however, Iraq has posed no real threat to the United States, its main interests or its allies. Yet the Bush administration still fears that Iraq may share the weapons of mass destruction that it holds with terrorists and in their eyes, war is the only sure way to eliminate this threat.

Another reason for the U.S. declaring war on Iraq is its repeated violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The government justifies the war by saying that since Iraq has violated Resolutions 660, 661, 678, 686, 687 and 688, and is currently violating Resolution 1441, which was passed fairly recently by the U.N. Security council, the U.S. would simply be ‘enforcing international laws by going to war to remove its regime.’ The Iraq regime is often considered a ruthless dictatorship. No one can be sure that ‘the occupation of a complex, divided country like Iraq and the installation of a new regime will lead to a rapid flowering of democracy.’ Yet the Bush administration still felt the need to make this attempt and hoped that the occupation of Iraq would lead to the spread of democracy throughout the Middle East.

The effects of the Iraq War are great and have impacted us all, whether we realize it or not. Over 1,040 American soldiers lost their lives fighting in the Iraq War and over 7,413 troops have been wounded since the war began. Economically, the war has hurt our country greatly. Over $151.1 billion has been put towards the war so far and it is expected that the war bill will add up to about $3,415 for every U.S. household. U.S. crude oil prices have reached record highs at over $90 per barrel. Although these effects of the war may seem bad enough, this is only half of it. In Iraq, the consequences are even more devastating. By September 22, 2004, between 12,800 and 14,843 Iraqi civilians had been killed as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation, and almost 40,000 had been injured. Iraqi citizens have dealt with a rise in crime and have also dealt with a number of psychological impacts of the war. Unemployment has almost doubled and Iraq’s oil company has suffered greatly.

It is clear that the outcomes of this war so far have hurt both the U.S. and Iraq significantly. Both countries have experienced difficult times and the citizens of both nations have had to go through a lot. Tens of thousands have died and the war has hurt the economy of both nations. However, it is important to realize the causes for this war and hope that, despite our losses, in the end, things will work out and we will achieve what we meant to do.

Join the Discussion

This article has 20 comments. Post your own now!

Miley123 said...
Apr. 17 at 1:02 pm
this is not updated. Now, the war in Iraq is technically over, but there is intelligence that says there are ISIS members in Iraq, which is why the US is still involved over there. And then theres the whole thing in Afghanistan, but that's a completely seperate war. so yeah, this is article does not have any recent information.
carecan said...
Mar. 21 at 7:25 pm
"....we ill achieve what we meant to do." What is it we meant to do again? Besides kill our former friend Saddam Hussain? Spread democracy in the Middle East? when we do not really have it in the USA? Like how Gore won the election and George W.Bush was installed? Please.....
PolkaSpotFever16 said...
Apr. 12, 2015 at 6:16 pm
This really helped me with my homework! It gave me insight on US's involvement in the war where my textbook has little to no information on it. Awesome!!!
karrahdavid said...
Dec. 19, 2014 at 2:05 pm
a lot of this stuff isn't factual information. Some of it is true but most of is not. :/
sallyburritos12345 said...
Jun. 4, 2014 at 9:09 am
same hamie
juanramone123 said...
Jun. 4, 2014 at 9:07 am
zacbibius2000 said...
Mar. 14, 2013 at 8:27 am
omg that was awesome dood that just filled in a whole report for my homework. :) 
MadelynStewart25 said...
Jan. 1, 2013 at 4:00 pm
Houses are quite expensive and not everybody is able to buy it. However, business loans are created to help people in such cases.
LOL.LOL said...
Nov. 25, 2012 at 12:41 am
alina said...
Oct. 13, 2012 at 3:39 pm
this website really helped me with my homework and i just want to say that the people who made this are amazing u answered all my re homework. thanks! who else found this helpful
loadedkeller2 said...
Sept. 27, 2012 at 12:34 pm
this is good not even close to the best thaat i have ever read.
Kaelinyouknowww said...
Apr. 14, 2011 at 5:23 pm
I think you should put the dates of the articles posted.
jaqzjackie replied...
Jan. 7, 2013 at 3:38 am
yes you are right.!!!!!!!!!!!111 there is no date posted. how can we know then if this updated or what?
queen_shaz said...
Feb. 27, 2011 at 7:23 am

How about the fact that all the reasons the US used to justify their entering Iraq, were leter found out to have amounted to nothing. Like you say, they were searching for weapons of mass destruction which they never found; they wanted to 'help' iraq achieve democracy but in the end left the poor country in a state far worse than ever before, economically and socially. They also used the 9/11 incident to justify all this, which is now widely accpeted to have been perhaps the world's largest c... (more »)

jackjo replied...
Oct. 12, 2011 at 8:20 am
later not leter
joeg72 replied...
Jun. 9, 2014 at 1:05 am
i agree with the fact that the WMD hint was a scam but i don't think that all these war profiteers are helping the economy much.  i mean they are making money off of a war that really never needed to happen and their only widenig the wealth income inequality gap by pilaging for oil, or mass producing guns or jets or in KBR's case rebiulding a war torn nation.  and do we really need to be spreading a democracy that doesn't work in our own country.  i mean the electoral ... (more »)
Flash10 said...
Jan. 3, 2011 at 8:39 am
I know for in fact that this country gave them these chemical weapons so its our fault you guys should get into researching conspiracy theory and the NwO and all those interesting things like the illuminati they all relate
Anniesunshine said...
Nov. 8, 2010 at 2:46 pm

I like this a lot! I have never thought about the causes of the war before.

Thank you for putting this!

Soviet Russia said...
Apr. 8, 2010 at 1:55 pm
This made me SOOOOOOO hungry. RAAAAAAAAGE!
emalicious101 said...
Nov. 26, 2008 at 2:16 am
I like it a lot! A lot of people think that our country should not be in the war, but it frustrates me how often times these people don't even know why we're there. However, I appreciate that you've paid attention to the facts. Well done!
Site Feedback