69
votes
Why did the US invade Iraq for weapons of mass destruction but not North Korea
Because there's no oil in NK.
And there's the Sino-North Korean Mutual Aid and Cooperation Friendship Treaty, which would make a war with NK a (nuclear?) war with China.
- 3,800
43
votes
Why did the US invade Iraq for weapons of mass destruction but not North Korea
WMD were only part of a complex reasoning that led to the Gulf Wars. The West had no serious problems with Iraqi WMD as long as they were aimed at Iran. But then Saddam Hussein miscalculated and went ...
- 104k
40
votes
Why was Qasem Soleimani in Iraq?
Soleimani was killed together with the leaders of some Iranian-backed Shia militias, who themselves have been accused of attacking US targets in Iraq, in particular Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis:
He was ...
- 133k
34
votes
Accepted
What are the differences among ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban?
TLDR:
Persecute civilians locally
Attack civilians in Western countries
Military operations
Can be engageddiplomatically
Taliban
✔✔ (1994-2001)2021+: ???
allowed Al Qaeda operationsleading to 9/11
✔✔...
30
votes
Accepted
How does the indignation of the Russo-Ukrainian War compare to the Iraq War?
The public reception of the US invasion of Iraq was very different in Europe (in particular France and Germany) and in the US. In the former, the attempts of the US government to justify the invasion ...
- 11.8k
29
votes
Accepted
Why is Iraq's decision to expel US troops non-binding?
I'm not sure there is a clear answer to this. US forces currently in Iraq aren't there as part of a formal agreement of any sort. They are there 'informally' at the invitation of the Iraqi government. ...
- 7,451
27
votes
Accepted
Have US anti-ballistic-missile capabilities been used and were they effective in countering the recent Iranian missile strike on US bases in Iraq?
It doesn’t seem so. Citing an unnamed US official, the LA Times reports that no attempt was made to intercept the missiles and those that did not fail during flight did hit the base. The lack of ...
- 25.9k
26
votes
Who was General Qasem Soleimani, and why was he targeted by the US?
According to the BBC:
The 62-year old [general] spearheaded Iranian military operations in the Middle East as head of Iran's elite Quds Force. [...] Under his leadership, Iran had bolstered Hezbollah ...
- 133k
26
votes
Have US anti-ballistic-missile capabilities been used and were they effective in countering the recent Iranian missile strike on US bases in Iraq?
There were none located in those places.
Those paragraphs from Foxnews explain: (emphasis mine)
U.S. defense officials told Fox News the U.S. military did not attempt to shoot down the ballistic ...
- 5,349
25
votes
Why was Saddam Hussein captured but Assad is still spared by America?
Here are a couple easy ones.
Iraq occurred first, and the war in Iraq turned out to be, at the very least, quite unpopular. When the situation in Syria came up, many people were fed up with the idea ...
24
votes
Accepted
Why was Qasem Soleimani in Iraq?
According to this BBC article Soleimani was in Iraq to meet the Iraqi Prime Minister:
The Iraqi prime minister revealed he had been due to meet Soleimani on Friday, the day he was killed along with ...
- 946
22
votes
Did the US and allies ever apologize for their invasion of Iraq?
Well, since you include allies, Tony Blair did apologize for some aspects of it (namely starting it for partly the wrong reasons), although he was no longer in government at that point, when he said ...
- 133k
18
votes
Accepted
Who was General Qasem Soleimani, and why was he targeted by the US?
Who was Soleimani?
Major General Qasem Soleimani was the leader of the Iran Revolutionary Quds Force, the unit responsible for unconventional warfare, [...] intelligence activities, and [...] ...
- 5,786
14
votes
Accepted
What is the international law to preserving the cultural sites?
The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954) requires signatories to try and avoid destruction of cultural heritage sites since they are all part ...
- 7,451
14
votes
Accepted
Did the US and allies ever apologize for their invasion of Iraq?
On November 28, 2008 (or thereabouts), President George W. Bush, in an interview with ABC News, said that he "regret[ted]" the "intelligence failure in Iraq".
This is not an ...
- 1,233
13
votes
Why was Qasem Soleimani in Iraq?
I do not doubt Soleimani was in Baghdad at the invitation of the Iraqi government, and he accepted the invitation.
By almost 2 to 1, Iraq is a Shia majority country. Iran is a 95% Shia country. The ...
- 1,549
13
votes
Why is Iraq's decision to expel US troops non-binding?
Indeed, what we do know is what we don't know
“The current U.S. military presence is based [on] an exchange of letters at the executive level,” said Ramzy Mardini, an Iraq scholar at the U.S. ...
- 133k
13
votes
Did the US and allies ever apologize for their invasion of Iraq?
While not in any way a formal apology, former U.S. President George W. Bush did admit that the invasion of Iraq was unjustified.
...the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal ...
- 179
12
votes
Did the US and allies ever apologize for their invasion of Iraq?
The United States government has not apologized for invading Iraq. See, e.g., here (noting calls for the U.S. to do so because it had not done so on March 20, 2018), here (calling for an apology to be ...
- 70.9k
11
votes
Why was Saddam Hussein captured but Assad is still spared by America?
There is a significant backlash in the USA about the removal of Saddam Hussein. Note that of the last five major USA presidential candidates (Hillary Clinton; Donald Trump; Bernie Sanders; Ted Cruz; ...
- 89.2k
11
votes
Accepted
Would killing ISIS journalists be considered a war crime? If so, could ISIS use the ICC?
ISIS is not a member of the ICC, therefore it can't appeal to it.
Intentionally killing journalists would be a war crime. However, if journalists are killed by an attack aimed at a legitimate target, ...
- 2,659
11
votes
Was Saddam ever a US ally?
Yes, they were, for a few years, right up until they invaded Kuwait and the US counter-invaded Iraq.
Why they were our allies, at any particular time, and why they did or did not get assistance from ...
- 20.8k
11
votes
Accepted
Why would the USA honour an Iraqi request for its military to leave?
Although the US invaded Iraq which ultimately led to the creation of the bases currently there, the forces now in country are there with the permission of the current Iraqi government, which the US is ...
- 7,451
11
votes
Why didn't the USA invade Iran before they could build up their missile arsenal?
Even if the impression is sometimes to the contrary, the US does not go around invading other countries on a whim.
The US has a lengthy history of trying to influence Iranian affairs. This ...
- 104k
9
votes
How does the indignation of the Russo-Ukrainian War compare to the Iraq War?
People in general dislike war, but also believe that sometimes, a war is worth fighting. And so we have:
Do you believe the Invasion of Iraq (2003) was worth fighting for, given the information ...
- 32.2k
8
votes
Accepted
What did the Dutch law commission find about their own military participation in Iraq (2003-2005)?
Dutch public broadcaster NOS has a summary about the report listing its main findings. I'll cite their summary (in Dutch) and provide my own translation below.
Geen adequaat volkenrechtelijk mandaat ...
JJJ♦
- 38.7k
7
votes
Why did Donald Trump say that?
The claim wasn't that Hussein had never used weapons of mass destruction. It was that Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction at the time of the invasion. Remember that the justification ...
- 89.2k
7
votes
How many non-combatants have been killed by the Islamic State?
My definition of non-combatant will be civilian.
According to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism around 33,000 people were killed by ISIS or ISIS affiliated ...
- 8,427
7
votes
Would killing ISIS journalists be considered a war crime? If so, could ISIS use the ICC?
For the ICC to consider a case it would have to be satisfied:
That a crime had been committed that it was competent to judicate on. Murder is such a crime. If a civilian had been targeted by ...
- 113k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible