Historical Perspective of War in Iraq

In order to understand the Iraq war in terms of administrative politics, it is helpful to take a broad historical perspective with a view towards how political and foreign policy decisions have been made in the past. Graham Allison's work, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, provides a beneficial parallel that can be applied to current events in the Middle East. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the war in Iraq through the lenses of Allison's work and other research concerning the war in Iraq.

Because of its example as a seminal historical event, the tense days in October of 1962 are often studied for clues about foreign policy and governmental decision-making. The U.S. and the Soviet Union were on the brink of nuclear war, a war that would have meant death for millions of Americans and Soviets (Allison, 1999, p.1). As in any political situation, decisions are made according to various modes of thought and hypotheses about the best outcome. Allison's work provides a helpful way to understand the involvement of the United States in the war in Iraq.

Allison says that when people are puzzled about events in foreign affairs, it is typical that a "particular government action or set of actions" is the source on inquiry (Allison, 1999, p.2). Most analysts explain the government's behavior in terms of some form of what Allison terms the Rational Actor Model. With a combination of detective work and clear, logical thought, it is possible to

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ted unilaterally without the support of the United Nations. Russia, China, Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Germany, Guinea, Mexico, Pakistan, and Syria, as well as France, were not in favor of the U.S. action against Iraq (Hamill, 2003, p.8). It seemed that one way or another, President Bush was ready for a fight. He hoped for the U.N. resolution to back him, but he went ahead without it. This executive stance is unusual during times of peace. Technically the attacks on the Twin Towers did not create a state of war, such as World War II, and President Bush's war-like decisions and actions on his own could be conceived as a breach of international law. But because the United States is such a strong, aggressive superpower, other countries do not resist. However hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in major cities all around the world to protest Bush's actions toward Iraq. The sentiment is there, but countries in general, aside from terrorist cells, are not at the point of wanting to declare war against the U.S. News articles from the years of 1999, 2000 and 2002 help provide background and understanding regarding what is happening in Iraq. Before the attack on Iraq, coercive sanctions were imposed on Iraq until she compl

Category: Government - H