Post by Belgarath on Nov 25, 2005 17:56:06 GMT -5
This is a personal essay I wrote for English.. I got 90 on it, so 
When two large jets carrying hundreds of passengers slammed into the twin peaks which were The World Trade Centre on September 11th, 2001, the entire world looked on in awe and horror as thousands of innocents perished in what was the single largest loss of life on American soil in its over 200 year old history. The most powerful country on the face of the Earth was virtually brought to its knees by 19 Arab men armed with nothing more than box cutters, American flight training, and a will to die for their cause.
The question on everybody’s mind after these events was simple: Who did it? Rumours began flying that terrorists from America, Europe, and even Mexico were to blame. However, it was soon determined that responsibility belonged to the Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda. Led by a wealthy Arab man named Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda had led a campaign of terror and destruction against America and its allies for years. However, no one seemed to pay any attention to them, even though U.S. intelligence was telling the President that Al Qaeda was a threat. But all of that changed on what is now known as 9/11, as Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda soon became household names throughout the world.
Before long, another question came to the minds of the people of America: Now that we know who did it, what are we going to do to make them pay? President George Bush soon devised a way to satisfy the warmongers popping up everywhere in the United States: The War on Terror. (Little did the unsuspecting public know that the war was also being used to serve Bush’s private agenda, but we’ll discuss that later on.) First on Bush’s list was Afghanistan. It was a well-known fact that Al Qaeda had operations in Afghanistan, and that the Taliban regime there was harbouring other terrorists groups, so this was an obvious choice. A few months and a toppled regime later, the United States was ready to move on.
The war was going well; public support was high. However, George Bush and his administration became too greedy and made a fatal mistake. Instead of going after countries that were known to harbour terrorists, such as Saudi Arabia or Iran, they decided to go after a small oil rich nation with a problematic dictator, which had no proven ties to Al Qaeda or terrorism: Iraq. However, there was one problem. How could they convince the rest of the world to go to war? All they had to go on was some shaky information stating that Iraq was harbouring terrorists and producing weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). But for an administration desperate to keep its beloved war moving, this was enough.
In 2002, the United States began to campaign for the overthrow of Iraq's dictatorial president, Saddam Hussein. The United States argued that Saddam Hussein was a threat to global peace, a vicious tyrant, and a sponsor of international terrorism. Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the United Nations, speaking as if though it was a proven fact that the United States’ claims were true. He even had pictures of vehicles reported to be capable of carrying WMDs. (Those turned out to be oil trucks.)
Opinion on the war was greatly divided among nations. Some countries felt that the United States failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Saddam had an active weapons program. Others felt that Iraq was an insignificant and militarily weak country that was not worth fighting over. Some saw the war as an act of imperialism, and charged that the United States just wanted Iraq's oil.
However, the United States did manage to trick some countries. Well, either they tricked them, or they were only trying to get on America’s good side. Supporting countries argued that Saddam Hussein was one of the 20th Century's worst despots, and that free countries should be obliged to remove brutal dictators from power. Others felt that Saddam's ties to terror groups were well established, and his weapons programs very real. Either way, the United States’ proposed plan to invade Iraq was vetoed by Germany and France, halting the U.S.’s efforts. America was outraged. French Fries were renamed to Freedom Fries, and soon French Toast followed suit.
But did this stop Bush’s plan to get into Iraq? Of course not. Why would the opinion of an assembly of the world’s countries designed to maintain order and peace in the world affect how ol’ Dubya works? Despite advancements in cooperation by Iraq with U.N. weapons inspectors, the United States, armed with the support of such superpowers as Afghanistan, Columbia, and Spain, among many others, invaded the country of Iraq on March 20th, 2003. The battle went easily enough, but who didn’t expect that? Iraq was still crippled by the heavy economic sanctions placed on it by the United States after the Gulf War in 1991. How could they repel the strongest military force on Earth? On May 1st, 2003, President George Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, and announced an end to major combat operations in Iraq, saying “Mission Accomplished.” Time to move on, right?
Not quite.
It turns out George’s intelligence on Iraq was a little off. To this day, no trace of the ability to produce WMDs has ever been found in Iraq. Also, no ties to Al Qaeda have ever been proven.
Uh-oh George, looks like things aren’t going too well now.
To add insult to injury to the United States, foreign insurgents from surrounding countries flooded into Iraq to fight the occupation. American news networks were swamped with stories of bombings, kidnappings, and even beheadings all throughout Iraq. Recently, Staff Sgt. George T. Alexander Jr., 34, of Killeen, Texas, became the 2,000th U.S. soldier to lose their life in Iraq. The number of American casualties surpasses 17,000. Not only was intelligence wrong on Iraq’s weapons and terrorist ties, but it also completely underestimated the strength of the insurgent forces.
Oh boy, things are definitely not going well now.
Public support for Bush and his War on Terror fell to the lowest it has been throughout his term in office. Soon, another question came to the mind of Americans: where was Bush getting the money to pay for this war? Well, it seems Bush wasn’t too careful with his money. The United States debt, as of October 20th, 2005, is a whopping $7,995,369,366,068.74. For those of you who do not wish to do the math, that’s almost 8 trillion dollars. The national debt is growing at an average rate of $1.6 billion per day! But wait, there’s more. Remember Afghanistan? Most people don’t. But anyways, the Taliban is making a little bit of a comeback there.
If that wasn’t enough, it was discovered that at a small U.S.- run prison housing Iraqi prisoners 20 miles west of Baghdad called Abu Gharib, U.S. soldiers were torturing inmates. They even took pictures of themselves doing it - American intelligence at its finest. And yet again, Bush’s approval rating hits a new low.
So why was Bush so adamant about his claims to invade Iraq, and that his information concerning terrorists and WMDs was so accurate? Well, it also turns out that Bush and his administration knew beforehand that the information they had concerning that wasn’t as reliable as they so fiercely claimed.
Members of Bush’s own party began to openly speak out against his administration and denounced the War on Terror. Remember that private agenda mentioned earlier? Well, it came to the public’s attention that George had plans to invade Iraq from his first day in office, and just used the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to do so. Furthermore, the multi-billion dollar contract to rebuild Iraq’s oil pipelines went to none other than Haliburton, Vice-President Dick Cheney’s former company. Coincidence? You decide.
It seems this War on Terrorism thing wasn’t such a great idea after all, George. With things constantly falling apart around you, it seems that your impact on the United States and the world won’t be a favourable one. Maybe next time you’ll think twice before acting so drastically. What would be even better though, is that there won’t be a next time.
When two large jets carrying hundreds of passengers slammed into the twin peaks which were The World Trade Centre on September 11th, 2001, the entire world looked on in awe and horror as thousands of innocents perished in what was the single largest loss of life on American soil in its over 200 year old history. The most powerful country on the face of the Earth was virtually brought to its knees by 19 Arab men armed with nothing more than box cutters, American flight training, and a will to die for their cause.
The question on everybody’s mind after these events was simple: Who did it? Rumours began flying that terrorists from America, Europe, and even Mexico were to blame. However, it was soon determined that responsibility belonged to the Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda. Led by a wealthy Arab man named Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda had led a campaign of terror and destruction against America and its allies for years. However, no one seemed to pay any attention to them, even though U.S. intelligence was telling the President that Al Qaeda was a threat. But all of that changed on what is now known as 9/11, as Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda soon became household names throughout the world.
Before long, another question came to the minds of the people of America: Now that we know who did it, what are we going to do to make them pay? President George Bush soon devised a way to satisfy the warmongers popping up everywhere in the United States: The War on Terror. (Little did the unsuspecting public know that the war was also being used to serve Bush’s private agenda, but we’ll discuss that later on.) First on Bush’s list was Afghanistan. It was a well-known fact that Al Qaeda had operations in Afghanistan, and that the Taliban regime there was harbouring other terrorists groups, so this was an obvious choice. A few months and a toppled regime later, the United States was ready to move on.
The war was going well; public support was high. However, George Bush and his administration became too greedy and made a fatal mistake. Instead of going after countries that were known to harbour terrorists, such as Saudi Arabia or Iran, they decided to go after a small oil rich nation with a problematic dictator, which had no proven ties to Al Qaeda or terrorism: Iraq. However, there was one problem. How could they convince the rest of the world to go to war? All they had to go on was some shaky information stating that Iraq was harbouring terrorists and producing weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). But for an administration desperate to keep its beloved war moving, this was enough.
In 2002, the United States began to campaign for the overthrow of Iraq's dictatorial president, Saddam Hussein. The United States argued that Saddam Hussein was a threat to global peace, a vicious tyrant, and a sponsor of international terrorism. Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the United Nations, speaking as if though it was a proven fact that the United States’ claims were true. He even had pictures of vehicles reported to be capable of carrying WMDs. (Those turned out to be oil trucks.)
Opinion on the war was greatly divided among nations. Some countries felt that the United States failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Saddam had an active weapons program. Others felt that Iraq was an insignificant and militarily weak country that was not worth fighting over. Some saw the war as an act of imperialism, and charged that the United States just wanted Iraq's oil.
However, the United States did manage to trick some countries. Well, either they tricked them, or they were only trying to get on America’s good side. Supporting countries argued that Saddam Hussein was one of the 20th Century's worst despots, and that free countries should be obliged to remove brutal dictators from power. Others felt that Saddam's ties to terror groups were well established, and his weapons programs very real. Either way, the United States’ proposed plan to invade Iraq was vetoed by Germany and France, halting the U.S.’s efforts. America was outraged. French Fries were renamed to Freedom Fries, and soon French Toast followed suit.
But did this stop Bush’s plan to get into Iraq? Of course not. Why would the opinion of an assembly of the world’s countries designed to maintain order and peace in the world affect how ol’ Dubya works? Despite advancements in cooperation by Iraq with U.N. weapons inspectors, the United States, armed with the support of such superpowers as Afghanistan, Columbia, and Spain, among many others, invaded the country of Iraq on March 20th, 2003. The battle went easily enough, but who didn’t expect that? Iraq was still crippled by the heavy economic sanctions placed on it by the United States after the Gulf War in 1991. How could they repel the strongest military force on Earth? On May 1st, 2003, President George Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, and announced an end to major combat operations in Iraq, saying “Mission Accomplished.” Time to move on, right?
Not quite.
It turns out George’s intelligence on Iraq was a little off. To this day, no trace of the ability to produce WMDs has ever been found in Iraq. Also, no ties to Al Qaeda have ever been proven.
Uh-oh George, looks like things aren’t going too well now.
To add insult to injury to the United States, foreign insurgents from surrounding countries flooded into Iraq to fight the occupation. American news networks were swamped with stories of bombings, kidnappings, and even beheadings all throughout Iraq. Recently, Staff Sgt. George T. Alexander Jr., 34, of Killeen, Texas, became the 2,000th U.S. soldier to lose their life in Iraq. The number of American casualties surpasses 17,000. Not only was intelligence wrong on Iraq’s weapons and terrorist ties, but it also completely underestimated the strength of the insurgent forces.
Oh boy, things are definitely not going well now.
Public support for Bush and his War on Terror fell to the lowest it has been throughout his term in office. Soon, another question came to the mind of Americans: where was Bush getting the money to pay for this war? Well, it seems Bush wasn’t too careful with his money. The United States debt, as of October 20th, 2005, is a whopping $7,995,369,366,068.74. For those of you who do not wish to do the math, that’s almost 8 trillion dollars. The national debt is growing at an average rate of $1.6 billion per day! But wait, there’s more. Remember Afghanistan? Most people don’t. But anyways, the Taliban is making a little bit of a comeback there.
If that wasn’t enough, it was discovered that at a small U.S.- run prison housing Iraqi prisoners 20 miles west of Baghdad called Abu Gharib, U.S. soldiers were torturing inmates. They even took pictures of themselves doing it - American intelligence at its finest. And yet again, Bush’s approval rating hits a new low.
So why was Bush so adamant about his claims to invade Iraq, and that his information concerning terrorists and WMDs was so accurate? Well, it also turns out that Bush and his administration knew beforehand that the information they had concerning that wasn’t as reliable as they so fiercely claimed.
Members of Bush’s own party began to openly speak out against his administration and denounced the War on Terror. Remember that private agenda mentioned earlier? Well, it came to the public’s attention that George had plans to invade Iraq from his first day in office, and just used the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to do so. Furthermore, the multi-billion dollar contract to rebuild Iraq’s oil pipelines went to none other than Haliburton, Vice-President Dick Cheney’s former company. Coincidence? You decide.
It seems this War on Terrorism thing wasn’t such a great idea after all, George. With things constantly falling apart around you, it seems that your impact on the United States and the world won’t be a favourable one. Maybe next time you’ll think twice before acting so drastically. What would be even better though, is that there won’t be a next time.
