Reflection / For WIZARD KIM

Hello All,

Former President Bush’s claims

Former President Bush claims that Iraq’s regime is a threat to the security of Americans and all its neighbors in the Middle East because the administration is developing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorist groups. Bush claims that Saddam Hussein will grow more dangerous with time because he will have developed nuclear weapons and thus will be able to blackmail the U.S and its neighbors. Bush claims that there is every reason to act as soon as possible since Iraq’s deception s and designs are understood. Bush claims that Saddam Hussein is rebuilding sites that were destroyed because they were being used to develop weaponries of mass devastation like biological and chemical weapons. It is evident enough that Saddam Hussein needs to be stopped (Secretary, 2002).

David Koehler’s Position

David’s position on the Iraq war is that the war was not necessary because there was no evidence that Iraq was developing weaponries of mass obliteration. David Koehler argues that the government claims that Iraq is not showing that it is not generating the weapons and that that means they are. Koehler claims that Bush created a false dilemma to instill fear in Americans and yet there was a more effective way of finding the weapons of mass destruction and destroy them other than resolving for war. Koehler also claims that lack of evidence resulted in Bush stating and restating the 9/11 attack and calling Saddam Hussein names like murderous and evil without evidence of threat (Koehler, 2008).

Response

Koehler’s claims are valid while Bush’s claims are fallacious. Koehler has a stronger argument since he suggests that there are many ways available to disarm Saddam Hussein other than putting lives of troops at risk and killing so many Iraq men. Koehler also claims that the U.S administration has no evidence that Iraq regime has weaponries of mass devastation and thus the government should respect diplomacy and the rule of law and help the Iraq people by disarming Saddam Hussein which makes a lot of sense.

(2002, October 7). Retrieved from https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//NSAEBB/NSAEBB80/new/doc 12/President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat.htm.

Koehler, D. (2008, February 28). Fallacies and War: Misleading a Nervous America to the Wrong Conclusion. Retrieved from https://www.commondreams.org/views/2008/02/28/fallacies-and-war-misleading-nervous-america-wrong-conclusion.