International Terrorism - An Unnecessary War

Running head: INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
Name of the Student
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Author Note

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INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
John Mearsheimer and Stephen M Walt, “An Unnecessary War,” Foreign Policy, 134
(2003), 50-59
The article “An Unnecessary War” was published in the year 2003, and took over
widespread debate among various nations as well as worldwide (Walt & Mearsheimer, 2003).
The thesis point of the article is the dilemma faced by United States, when Saddam Hussain
failed to acknowledge and support Bush Administration. The objective of the article is to
exemplify the time when Saddam Hussain was leading two wars, the 1980 “Iran Iraq War”,
and “Gulf war in 1990”. As this time show the strategies applied in the disastrous wars, as
well as the insight of the political state at the time of Iraq invasion in the year
2003(O'Callaghan, 2015).
The main theoretical framework of this article was “Strategic Nuclear
Deterrence”suggests the conflict between Saddam Hussain and Iraq, as Saddam Hussain was
considered to one of the most powerful person possessing “Weapon of Mass Destruction
(WMD)”, his continuous involvement in wars with nuclear weapons threatened the United
States, and stating him to be careless and cruel. There was also a belief lingering among the
U.S people, that Saddam should be deterred as he was in possession of WMD, which led to
the sudden invasion of U.S army to deter Saddam. The main focal point was the strategies of
United States to deter Saddam Hussain as to prevent him from attacking United States
(Ibrahim, 2015). Many authors have stated numerous arguments, but the central argument, is
that United Nations invasion to Iraq was unnecessary and costly, which can hamper the
relationship with other nations. On the other hand, much authors have debated that foreseeing
the history of Saddam Hussein in two historic wars, deterrence will be a vague option, as it
will not make him surrender. Therefore, a threat of war cannot compel him to appear for
weapon inspection.
Another factor that the authors were focusing on is Saddan Hussain ruled for over 30
years, but instigated two wars “Iran Iraq War” in the year 1980-88 and “Gulf War” 1990-91.
The use of nuclear missiles and deadly weapons, there were no harmful chemical, but his
actions were heinous and reckless which endangered the safety of many countries especially
United States. Another question was continuously surrounding the tension between U.S and
Iran, is that whether Saddam was a serial aggressor? According to Kenneth Pollack, former
director of “National Security Council”, he was the worse ruler of Iran, than the neighbouring
states Egypt and Israel, who became reasons for starting great wars. Therefore, Saddam
Hussein was considered a serial aggressor due to his reckless behaviour and involvement in