Purpose Statement: People should know about the cost of a war based on misleading information and how it lead to the death of many.

            The United States on March 20, 2003, chose to go to war with Iraq. Over 1000 American troops have died already and the death toll of Iraqi civilians is over 100,000. That is more than 36 times the amount of people who died on 9/11.

            The reasons for going to war were stated by the government. President Bush and his supporters told us many times that Saddam Hussein was a dangerous threat to our country. The intelligence, which was cited as questionable, indicated that Saddam supposedly had weapons of mass destruction. This was the biggest reason to go to war because he posed an imminent threat to the United States. Saddam Hussein was also was accused of training, supplying, and harboring terrorists. The intelligence that connected Saddam to terrorists groups like Al Qaeda was vague and very hard to make. Al Qaeda tends to over throw governments that don’t share the their version of fundamental Islam. Saddam was considered one of the most secular leaders in the Middle East and did not believe in fundamentalism. Another major reason to go to war with Iraq was to make a model democracy in the Middle East. The government said when Iraq is a functional democracy; it will spread all over the Middle East.

            Besides being over 100,000 Iraqis dead and 1000 Americans dead so far in the war on Iraq, there was huge cost in the amount of money that was spent on it. They have spent so far over $157 billion. This amount of money could have hired over 2 million more teachers, or it could have paid for over 7 million four-year scholarships, or it could have built over million new homes. This is valuable tax money that our government is spending on war.

Usually the more successful democracies tend to have won their own independence and the people are willing to accept a democracy. The majority of Iraqis did not want the United States to conqueror their country. They didn’t feel like being “liberated” by America. The hatred of the United States by the Middle East has risen ever since it took over Iraq. Terrorists groups like Al Qaeda thrive on hatred and over all, terrorism has been considered to have risen to larger amounts. There is good evidence to suggest that the President has gone to war for oil and this idea should not be dismissed so quickly. Even if that is not the case, was the cost of the war worth the all the lives in this war. Could we have found more peaceful ways to stop Saddam Hussein? It is too bad that President Bush rush into a war without finding and trying them.