page_title: Foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration
section_title: Iraq
hierarchical_section_title: Foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration / Middle East and Central Asia / Iraq
caption_attribution_description: English: President George W. Bush addresses the nation from the Oval Office at the White House Wednesday evening, March 19, 2003, announcing the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. THE PRESIDENT: My fellow citizens, at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger... Image obtained from http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/images/20030319-17_address2-515h.html.
context_page_description: The foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration was the foreign policy of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. Bush's main foreign policy advisors were Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and Vice President Dick Cheney.
  Interactions with foreign nations during this period included diplomatic and military initiatives in the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere. Critical geopolitical developments that occurred during Bush's presidency include the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, and the subsequent Global War On Terror. The administration also concluded several free-trade agreements during its tenure in office.
context_section_description: Beginning with his January 29, 2002 State of the Union address, Bush began publicly focusing attention on Iraq, which he labeled as part of an "axis of evil" allied with terrorists and posing "a grave and growing danger" to U.S. interests through possession of weapons of mass destruction. Bush declared, "Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror." Announcing that he would possibly take action to topple the Iraqi government, he claimed, "The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade." and claimed "This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children". and that "This is a regime that agreed to international inspections, then kicked out the inspectors". and that "This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilised world".
  In the latter half of 2002, CIA reports contained assertions of Saddam Hussein's intent of reconstituting nuclear weapons programs, not properly accounting for Iraqi biological and chemical weapons, and that some Iraqi missiles had a range greater than allowed by the UN sanctions. Contentions that the Bush Administration manipulated or exaggerated the threat and evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities would eventually become a major point of criticism for the president.
  Bush began formally making his case to the international community for an invasion of Iraq on September 12, 2002, in his address to the United Nations General Assembly.
  In October 2002, Congress passed a legislation titled the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq signed by President Bush on October 16, 2002. authorizing the use of the United States Armed Forces against Saddam Hussein's Iraq government.
  On November 20, 2002 at a NATO summit in Prague, Czech Republic,  Bush and President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel held a joint news conference, where Bush stated "It's very important for our NATO nations as well as all free nations to work collectively to see to it that Saddam Hussein disarms," "However, should he choose not to disarm, the United States will lead a coalition of the willing to disarm him and at that point in time, all our nations will be able choose whether or not they want to participate."
  In late 2002 and early 2003, Bush urged the United Nations to enforce Iraqi disarmament mandates, precipitating a diplomatic crisis. In November 2002, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei led UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, but were advised by the U.S. to depart the country four days prior to the U.S. invasion, despite their requests for more time to complete their tasks. The U.S. initially sought a UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of military force but dropped the bid for UN approval due to vigorous opposition from several countries. The Bush administration's claim that the Iraq War was part of the War on Terror had been questioned and contested by political analysts.
  President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union Address, on January 28, 2003 declared Saddam Hussein was the worst, and "a brutal dictator, with a history of reckless aggression, with ties to terrorism, with great potential wealth, will not be permitted to dominate a vital region and threaten the United States." In this context, Bush also said, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa,"
  Although no agreement on authorizing force could be found within the United Nations Security Council, the war was ultimately launched in March 2003, after Bush, in a speech on March 17, 2003 effectively had set out a declaration of his objectives as "assuring [the] national security" of the United States, and "no more poison factories, no more executions of dissidents, no more torture chambers and rape rooms". Bush also issued an ultimatum stating, "Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, com
caption: US President George W. Bush addresses the nation from the Oval Office, March 19, 2003, to announce the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
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