The Concept of the Shadow and the 2003 Iraq Invasion
President Bush and the American people projected their shadow to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Bush invaded Iraq to attack his shadow of his father.
Saddam Hussein tried to assassinate Bush's father and Bush's father conducted an 'incomplete' invasion of Iraq.
Bush's stated rationales for the invasion were questioned at the time and have since been proven false.
Americans projected their feelings of weakness onto Iraq.
The September 11 attacks may have been 'blowback' for American foreign policy.
Americans felt a sense of inadequacy of weakness and fear after the September 11th attacks.
Bush's and the American people's shadows drove their support for an Iraq invasion.
Americans should examine their own shadows to effectively address the issue of terrorism.
The Concept of the Shadow and the 2003 Iraq Invasion
Many psychologists and other writers have explored the concept of the "shadow," which they have generally defined as the part of the psyche that is often blamed or attacked when individuals or groups feel a need to justify or vindicate their own behavior (Judge). Generally, individuals or groups do not recognize that the shadow as part of themselves. Rather, they perceive it as a separate entity that has sparked fear or anger in the individual or group. This paper explores the concept of the shadow in the context of the United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The paper concludes that the impetus for the invasion was President George Bush's desire to attack the shadow of his father and the shadow of American foreign policy in the world. The paper also concludes that the American public's support for the invasion was also due to its projection of its own shadow onto Saddam Hussein and the Arabic peoples of the Middle East.
In his discussion of the concept of the shadow, Robert Bly discusses how many m
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