American History: War on Terror Turns to Iraq
11 April 2012
A U.S. Army helicopter flies over the Adwar area of Iraq, about 16 kilometers of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, in December of 2003
STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option. [Applause]"
(MUSIC)
This week in our series, we look at the American-led invasion of Iraq in March two thousand three. It was part of the “War on Terror” President George W. Bush had declared after the al-Qaida attacks on the United States on September eleventh, two thousand one.
In October of that year, the United States led the invasion of Afghanistan. The purpose was to attack al-Qaida and the Taliban rulers sheltering the group's leader, Osama bin Laden.
At the same time, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was proposing the possibility of military action against Iraq as well. American officials accused Iraq of supporting terrorism. They pointed out that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons on his own people. They said there were signs that he was also trying to develop biological and nuclear weapons.
President Bush gave his annual State of the Union message to Congress in January two thousand two.
He described American successes in closing terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. He also spoke of cooperation from Pakistan toward the same goal in that country.
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