Motives for Intervention

Attack on Twin Towers
- Suspected WMDs in Iraq
- Claimed that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the 'west'
Spread of so-called Islamic State across Iraq and Syria
- Slaughter innocent civilians
- Use modern communications e.g. social media websites to recruit younger Muslims
- Some military experts say that IS can only be defeated by direct engagement on the ground and not just air strikes
- Pursued strategy of annihilating minority communities inc. Kurds, Assyrians, Shabaks, Turkmens and Yazidis
- Took control of parts of Iraq and Syria and declared a 'caliphate'
- Took advantage of power vacuum in Iraq and Syrian civil war
Political instability in the area
Human rights abuses
Oil

Type of Intervention

What Was Done

Iraq War
- US forces advanced into Baghdad
- Airstrikes of Baghdad
- Capture of Saddam Hussein in Dec 2003
Syria/IS
- Airstrikes of potential IS strongholds
- Airstrikes of suggested chemical weapons factories

Positives

Negatives

Iraq
- Created power vacuum
  - Allowed so-called Islamic State to take control quickly and easily
- Increased anti-western feelings in the area
- No WMDs found
  - Waste of money and resources
- ~3,750 non-combatants (civilians) killed
Syria
- No evidence for Syrian government using chemical weapons
  - Waste of money/resources
- Destroying civilian property e.g. hospitals, housing
- Killing of innocents

	Created by Wesley Spearman over 6 years ago

A level Geography (Health, Human Rights and Intervention) Note on War on Terror, created by Wesley Spearman on 08/05/2018.