Morality of war in Afghanistan and Iraq Essay

The war in Afghanistan and Iraq are referred by President Bush as wars against terror. They came as a result of the events that happened in the land of America in September 11th 2007. During this time America was attacked by terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center and Washington’s defense unit; the pentagon. These two attacks led to the loss of about 3000 lives. Immediately the US president declared war on Afghanistan which was said to harbor the world’s terrorist Osama bin Laden who masterminded the attacks. Later, he also attacked Iraq after Saddam Hussein said that he also happy to learn that America was attacked though he was not responsible. When both nations were attacked by USA in the name of war against terror, they retaliated. Now the question of morality comes in, who had a right to fight back, is it USA or the so called terrorists? It is this question of morality that will be my main focus on this paper. On 11th September 2001, America was hit by what seemed to be a well coordinated terrorist attack. There were about 19 terrorists who worked in groups of 4 or 5 to execute their plans. They used American jetliners as bombs to hit their two targets that is, the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon which is the USA’s military headquarters at Arlington, Virginia. The other plane which was also hijacked failed to hit its target after the passengers realized what was going on and fought back. It crashed somewhere in rural fields of Pennsylvania. All these acts showed every traits of terrorism. And the 19 men who were involved were Arabs who came from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab countries. They were all linked to the al-Qaeda network which is an Islamic group headed by Osama bin laden. This organization is dedicated to wage war against USA and their main targets include financial, political and military section. It has never witnessed such deaths since the civil war ended. This is why Bush found it morally right to protect and to fight for he thought it wise to stand up to their bullies. The al-Qaeda network started when Osama bin laden offered himself to support Afghanistan in 1980’s against the occupation by the Union of Soviet Socialist State (USSR). He financed the anti-soviet resistance. After he succeeded in chasing the Soviet out, Osama devoted himself to fight for Muslims in other regions in the world. He was especially angered by the stationing of USA military in Saudi Arabia and the idea of United States for supporting Israel against Palestine in the Arab- Israel war. Osama is an extremist who believed that no US citizen should step in the Muslim land and is totally opposed to the Western influences. Osama bin laden is not an Afghanistan citizen. Afghanistan as an independent nation and it had its every right to fight back USA. Any independent nation should be able to protect its citizens against any external aggression. So, this is one of these obligations that Iraq and Afghanistan were meeting (Press release. 2007 Sept 27) Again, Afghanistan had every right to fight USA back in support of Osama bin laden- the said master minder. This is because a friend in deed is a friend in need. Osama and his al-Qaeda, network saved them from external aggression by the USSR. Now it was their turn to help him. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. By not fighting back was not only a sign of cowardice but also being ungrateful. The Taliban regime depended on Osama’s wealth. He helped to organize and equip all military training camps USA should have used diplomatic strategies to arrest Osama bin laden and bring an end to the operations of the al-Qaeda. According to Martin Luther King junior, you do not pay evil with evil, it will escalate to a very terrible thing. There was no way the attacked nations could have remained quiet. Yes war is not the answer and should be the last option but cannot face your enemy who is armed with open arms. For this reason, I don’t see anything unusual or bad with Iraq and Afghanistan retaliating. Therefore, they were justified to fight back. To the affected Arab nations, the September 11th, 2001 attacks if anything, was a revenge of harms done by USA to the Arab states. USA has been against the Arabs since the Israel Palestine conflict. The US government thought that it must teach these deviant nations a lesson by attacking them. They knew that US is superior to them but they had slow down its move. They were aware that that if you give your enemy an inch, they will take a mile so by fighting back, they were only reducing further military interventions. According to the Muslims (Scott D. M. , 2005) staging a holy war is not morally wrong. Muslims do value holy war or what is called Jihad. To Muslims jihad war should be directed to a visible enemy, against devil inducements and on one’s self aspects. So, by Afghanistan and Iraq fighting back, they were only fulfilling the teachings of Koran. According to them, America fits the description of a foe and it should be shunned from entering in any of the Muslim territories. According to Saddam, it was alright to fight your foe. He was a very strong supporter of this course. In one of his speech that was read by the Information Minister Saeed Al sahaf he said, â€Å"O great warrior nation, O sons our great nation men of arms who uphold the honor of resistance, God’s peace be upon you as you face the aggressors the enemies of God and humanity the passing infidels, with chests filled with faith and love for God. † In his speech he argued people to fight against their enemy, â€Å"The aggressors will flee from what is right and be damned along with their devils. Faith and honor will brighten the faces of Mujahedden (holy fighters), men and women. † He said. Saddam Hussein justified the course he took of fighting Americans and Persians. He died cursing both of them. Before he died he argued all Muslims from all over world to unite and fight their common enemy. By fighting Americans they are only acting according to the Koran’s teachings. After the September 11 attack (Press release. 2007 Sept 27)Saddam was heard saying that the act was heroic though he was not responsible there was no indication that Iraq was responsible for the attack Saddam Hussein celebrated the attacks on USA just a few days after the attack. He said that the attacks were the fruits of the crimes they had committed against humanity. There was no evidence pointing Iraq to the attack so, there was no way they could have allowed USA to attack them. Any move to punish them was resisted by fighting back. America attacked Iraq on allegations that it was involved in the 2001 September 11 attack. What I think prompted US to act against Iraq is the Saddam’s speech after the attack. It should be known that everybody should feel free to express his ideas whenever he feels like. That is why there is freedom of expression. Therefore, Saddam was only exercising his freedom of speech. In Afghanistan, the US government crushed the Taliban government and put another government of their choice. This can be said to be interfering with other states affairs. Taliban was the ruling government before it was ousted by the American troops. Thus, they were fighting back to take their former leadership positions. On the other hand, I think America had all the rights to attack Afghanistan. This is because all the evidence was pointing on Afghanistan. For example in 2007 a videotape was discovered in Afghanistan. It provided insights in Osama’s thinking and ties to the attack. This video was discovered in November 2001 and was conversation between Osama bin laden and the Arab Sheik who had visited Afghanistan. In the tape Osama bin Laden could be heard saying how he premeditated the attacks. He even knew the number of people who would be victims of the attack. Also, because he is a construction engineer, he knew that the best floors to target were three or four because the fine caused by the caused by the gas on the plane would melt all the iron above it and make the while building to collapse. This was enough evidence that linked Osama bin laden, Taliban government and USA attack. Though this tape linked Afghanistan with September eleven attacks, it was not enough evidence to prove that they are the one who did that. May be the tape was recorded by people who wanted to make a name for al-Qaeda? Even before the tape was discovered, USA had already started to revenge on Afghanistan as on 7TH October 2001(Bergen P. , 2006)