U.S. Invasion of Iraq
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-Context of the Invasion-
Who commanded the invasion? In 2003, president of the U.S. George W. Bush and U.K. prime minister Tony Blair commanded coalition forces to invade. The invasion, which lasted from the 20th of March to the 1st of May in 2003, was said to have started so that Saddam Hussein and his terrorist forces could be stopped, and to disarm the country of any supposed weapons of mass destruction. The forces of the U.S. and U.K. captured the large cities of Iraq in 21 days and toppled Hussein's regime.
Perspective #1
The White House, at the time headed by George W. Bush, claimed Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction," and that the aim of an invasion would be to get rid of Saddam Hussein's Regime and put democracy in its place. Rupert Murdoch, founder of Fox News and a strong war supporter, had his news company lead stories with these claims. The show featured commentators such as Mort Kondracke who associated Iraq with nuclear activity in an attempt to sell the war to the American public.
Perspective #2
Of course, still today, there are those who disagree with the invasion. One article on truth-out.org "How The Media Fueled The War in Iraq" cites the facts we now know as reasons the media should be ashamed for lying to the American people. They say that Bill O'Reilly used his show to mislead the people about lies told by the Bush administration. These include Iraq's alleged nuclear enrichment, the WMDs they apparently had, and Saddam Hussein's "ties" to Osama bin Laden and the attacks on 9/11.
Statue of Saddam Hussein Brought Down
Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
BILL OREILLY •Taken Down• BY U S IRAQ WAR VET
Media Bias Explained
Pro-war media outlets were (and are) generally right or conservative-leaning. These people would have been fans of the Bush administration and in turn been fans of his decisions. They shrugged off critics of the war as "unamerican" or "weak." Anti-war outlets are generally left or liberal-leaning. They did not see another country's problems as the U.S.'s problems and saw no reason to intervene, or spend huge portions of the country's budget on a war they saw as unnecessary.
Criticism #1
One criticism is cultural. The culture many Americans have is that you should stand by your country, right or wrong. When Bush made the decision to go to war, many people would not condemn the decision because they could not see anything America did as wrong. Another reason people wanted to go to war was to assert the country's dominance and force a government on another country.
Criticism #2
Another criticism is Marxist, for sure. The Republican party will do anything to stay in power, and proponents of the war will be rewarded within the party for agreeing with the leader, who at the time, was George Bush. This is why many media outlets covered the war as a positive thing for the country. When you choose the winning side, you will be rewarded.