Causes of the Iraq War (The Road to War: Causes of Conflict)

In March 2003, the United States and its allies launched an attack on Iraq, to remove the country's brutal and dangerous dictator, Saddam Hussein, from power. U.S. leaders expressed fears that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction--nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons that could be used to kill large numbers of people--and said they wanted to prevent Saddam from using the weapons or giving them to terrorist groups. The roots of the conflict in Iraq extend back to the late 19th century. This book describes the creation of Iraq after World War I, and traces the events that led to the 1991 Gulf War. It discusses the rising tensions throughout the 1990s, as Saddam defied U.N. demands that he disarm. And it explains how, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the United States, U.S. leaders decided to make regime change in Iraq a key element of their "war on terrorism."