Nuclear Weapons - Iraq

Iraq War (1)

Pro

• 3/20/03 to 12/18/11. (Also known as Occupation of Iraq, Second Gulf War, Iraqi Liberation, Operation Iraqi Freedom and finally, Operation New Dawn). The U.S successfully invaded Iraq to avert an attack by Iraq using weapons of mass destruction on the U.S.
• 5-3-03 The initial U.S. invasion on Iraq was complete.
• 12-13-03 Saddam Hussein was captured and hung on 12-30-2006.
• 1-31-05 The elected Iraqi Transition Team drafted a permanent constitution to govern their country.
• 2009 The Iraqi Ministry of Oil awarded contracts to international oil companies. Two U.S. international companies won the bid and each will jointly partner to develop and increase oil production.
• 10-15-05 The new Iraqi Constitution was ratified with voter participation from Sunnis, Kurds, and Shias.
• 3-20-06 The current government took office.
• 2005-2008 Iraq has purchased $20B in arms sales agreements with another $100M proposed.
• 2-27-10 The President of the U.S. announced the combat mission would end 8-31-10, with a transitional force of 50K troops remaining to train Iraqi Security Forces in counterterrorism until the end of 2011.
• 12-15-10 U.N Security Council lifts restrictions legitimizing Iraq to become a more self-reliant state.
• 12-18-11 The last U.S. Troops and trainers were withdrawn from Iraq.

Con

• 3-20-03-4-30-03 Of the 250,000 U.S Troops sent to Iraq, 9200 Iraq combats, 7299 civilians and 139 Military personnel were killed in the first fifty-one days of the initial
• Iraq invasion.
• Following the invasion, the U.S-led Iraq Survey Group concluded that Iraq had ended its nuclear, chemical, and biological programs in 1991.
• 3-2003 Hans Blix, Chief Weapons Inspector, reported, “no evidence of WMD have been found.” The Center for Public Integrity states that the U.S. Administration had made false statements about Iraq’s threat to the U.S. (6) *2004 The U.N. Secretary General stated that according to the Charter, the war was illegal.
• 2009 The cost of the war to the Government was $845 billion, while the cost to the economy was $3 trillion. U.S. combat deaths were over 4500 and Iraqi and civilian deaths were over 162,000. (2)
• Since 2002 the price of oil has quadrupled.
• Deaths may continue for generations due to the containment of depleted uranium in the weaponry used in the Iraq invasion. (10) Radioactive waste has been found in over 350 sites in Iraq, reported by Iraq’s Minister of Environment in 2007. It was said these shells were used to provide superior penetration impact. The resulting disintegration of the shell casing spread highly radioactive lethal dust to the surrounding target areas. (3) Exposure to depleted uranium has shown increases in malignancies, congenital malformations, miscarriages, and predicted transgenerational genetic damage. (4)(10) The U.S. Military can expect similar effects. USA Today reported an estimated 360,000 U.S Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan may have suffered traumatic brain injury, with up to 90,000 needing medically structured care. (2)
• Sixty to seventy per cent of Iraqi children suffer psychological problems due to the war.
• Contaminated water in North Iraq is causing an outbreak of cholera.

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Sources: 1) Iraq War, Wikipedia.org, 8-22-12; 2) Causalities of the Iraq War, Wikipedia.org, 9-1-12; 3) Depleted Uranium Weapons’ Devastating Health Effects in Iraq, www.uranium-news.com/2009/1/20; 4) Effects of Nuclear Explosions on Human Health,  Wikipedia.org, 6-11-12; 10) Depleted Uranium, Wikipedia.org, 7-15-12.