Invasion Of Iraq
By: Trey Ashby
The Event of a Lifetime
March 19th, 2003 the United States along with the United Kingdom decided to initiate war on Iraq. This decision was reached after the bombings that where happening in the heart of Baghdad, Iraq. The main goal? To stop dictator Suddam Hussein From reaching for a tool to end us.
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
The Media, along with President Bush decided that to get the backing for the war in Iraq we would make sure that people knew and thought that Iraq was capable of creating and using weapons of mass destruction. We decided that going to war with Iraq because of the dangers that where posed on the US. The US citizens who backed war where very supportive of trying to disarm Iraq.
That was Quick!
Only 3 weeks after the American invasion on Iraq, we had captured all of the main cities. Saddam Hussein was in hiding at this point and was communicating with his people via an occasional audiotape. On May 1st 2003 President Bush declared that all major war activities had commenced. The media was trying to put anti-war citizens minds at ease while this was taking place. The media was very misleading in this sense of the war because what the media did not warn us about was the insurgencies that would continue to rule through Iraq for years to come.
Media and anti-war citizens
Saddam Hussein was eventually found hiding in an 8 foot deep hole, the media went berserk about this because Saddam was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. The media took this opportunity to point out the fact that the US did not find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This media spin made it seem like we where losing innocent soldiers for no good cause rather than to just stir up some trouble.
Statue of Saddam Hussein being taken down by the US Marine Corps
Media explained
The media was putting some different spins on the invasion at the beginning to cater the war efforts to the people. At the beginning of the war the media was big on emphasizing that Iraq had WMD at disposal. After we found out that they did no have WMD and the American citizens started turning on Bush and decided they did not support the war the media began to shift. The media then started bashing the President, making it sound like he made a careless decision to invade another country. After all of these efforts to stop Saddam, we then find out about the insurgencies that will cause years of future threat.
Cultural Critisism
The United States have created many stereotypes for middle eastern people, based on their association with the September 11th 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers. People associate middle eastern/Muslim people with acts of terrorism. This could of very well been a leading factor in why we thought that they where in possession of WMD. This made it a little easier for the media to get American citizens on board with the war, because we could blame it on a race that was known for acts of violence.
2003: President Bush announces invasion of Iraq
Archetypal Criticism
Its always a David and Goliath story. Except in this case, Goliath always wins. When The United States decided that they wanted to disarm Iraq, we could. This was a prime example of the big guy wanting to control the little guy knowing that we can dominate the Iraq nation as a whole if we so desired. The only problem with this, is the little guy isnt giving up. Here we are 13 years later and we are still dealing with Isis and other terrorist, extremist groups. We really do need to just end Iraq once and for all. The media portrayal of ISIS could help get the backing for another war. Time to #MakeAmericaGreatAgain.