Iraq and the Security Challenges Facing the US Essay

Iraq and the Security Challenges Facing the US - Essay Example It's the 21st century, the world is modernizing, and superpowers are helping developing countries develop. The UN, composed f members from most f the countries f the world, was founded to promote peace, security, and economic development throughout the world. As one of, if not the only, current superpower, the United States has an obligation to spread democracy throughout the world, mainly Iraq, as stabilizing the country would bring stability to the volatile Middle-East. The deposition f Saddam Hussein would clear the space for the Iraqi people to establish a truly democratic government and serve as a beacon and inspiration for the spread f democracy throughout the Islamic world. Saddam Hussein massacred his people, the Kurds, and even his own family members, yet he was supposedly elected by 99% f the population. This is the result f a dictatorship government where the people have little to no say. By establishing a democracy in Iraq the people would be bestowed the gift f freedom. We all remember watching the people f Iraq proudly waving their purple-dyed fingers in triumph after voting in their first real elections. Iraqis would have a constitutional democracy in the Arab world, and Americans would have a partner for peace and moderation in the Middle East. The Bush Administration was well aware f these facts, and thus this acted as the motivation for invading Iraq. Some make the argument that by spreading democracy in Iraq, we are doing nothing but imposing a foreign belief on a nation uninterested in this alien form f government. To this it could be said that democracy takes different forms in different cultures, successful free societies are built on common foundations f rule f law, freedom f speech, freedom f assembly, a free economy, and freedom f worship. These are fundamental rights that any nation or population can appreciate. Additionally, according to the "Democratic Domino theory", if and when democracy is established in Iraq, it would spread beyond the nation's borders to the other undemocratic countries f the region, leading to a stable and free Middle East. As President Bush declared, "All Iraqis must have a voice in the new government, and all citizens must have their rights protected." It would be hypocritical f the United States to praise its successful democratic government, but do nothing to promote it in other countries. Thus the spread and establishment f democracy was an absolute real motivation for the invasion f Iraq. To some this argument is flawed. They claim all this was propaganda promoted by the Bush Administration and used as a front to sell the war to the nation. Others, such as the chief foreign columnist f the New York Times, Thomas Friedman, believe the opposite. In a July 16 column entitled "Winning the Real War", Friedman hails the formation f an Iraqi "governing council," handpicked by the US colonial administrator L. Paul Bremer, as the real "liberation" f Iraq,