Our Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan War Term Paper

Our Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan War - Term Paper Example The wars have been compounded by the influence of Al Qaeda and foreign fighters who have infiltrated in the country. These have seriously complicated the war on terror as a result of suicide attacks and kidnappings they employ. These have dealt a big blow to the reconstruction efforts being undertaken in the two countries and also continue to pose a big threat to global security. This is due to extremist tendencies which they seem to have perfected the world over with adverse effects to mankind. Iraq woes started with the discovery of oil and the subsequent scramble for oil by the US and Great Britain in 1930s. Since her independence in 1931, the country's political arena has been characterized by a series of coups and other political upheavals that led to the coming to power of Saddam Hussein in 1979 (The Iraq crisis, n.d, Para 5). Saddam, on coming to power immediately embarked on consolidation of his dictatorial powers and an ambitious territorial expansion campaign that led to on e of the longest battles in Asia involving Iraq and Iran. Iraq later went on to invade Kuwait in 1990 and occupy it which led to its fierce confrontation with the US alongside its NATO allies. Iraq was defeated and withdrew from the country. Saddam later went on to develop nuclear weapon facilities, a move that set him at odds with the international community. Sanctions were imposed on the country after it refused to cooperate with the UN arms inspectors. This protracted competition eventually culminated into the US invasion of the country. The ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003 led to a stream of devastation in the country caused by widespread looting and civilian bombings by pro -Saddam militias. This caused adverse effects to the countries infrastructure and a serious humanitarian crisis that called for urgent remedies. A civilian government was later installed to replace the fallen Saddam government. The move was expected to instill calm but achieved modest success due to lack of acceptance by the Iraqi people. In its counterattacks, the Iraqi forces put up fierce resistance and also attacked bases in Kuwaiti according to Lee (2009, Para. 8). Both the new government and the coalition forces continue to face heavy casualties as a result of attacks by the remaining insurgents helped by al Qaeda fighters.   Afghanistan has also had a series of uprisings since independence the most difficult period being the mujahedeen war against Russian communist occupation in the 1980s. This formed the very foundation of Al Qaeda through the inspiration of then the US-backed Osama Bin Laden. This makes the renegades a creation of US blunders in their strategies. Taliban did not pose a serious threat until they embraced Osama as their financier in exchange of allowing him to set up a base in the country. O