Multilateral Organizations After the U.S.-Iraq War

2003 ◽  
pp. 359-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa L. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Iraq War ◽  
Multilateral Organizations ◽  
The U.S

In the Crossfire or the Crosshairs? Norms, Civilian Casualties, and U.S. Conduct in Iraq

2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin H. Kahl
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
Military Culture ◽  
Noncombatant Immunity ◽  
The Vietnam War ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Over Time

The belief that U.S. forces regularly violate the norm of noncombatant immunity (i.e., the notion that civilians should not be targeted or disproportionately harmed during hostilities) has been widely held since the outset of the Iraq War. Yet the evidence suggests that the U.S. military has done a better job of respecting noncombatant immunity in Iraq than is commonly thought. It also suggests that compliance has improved over time as the military has adjusted its behavior in response to real and perceived violations of the norm. This behavior is best explained by the internalization of noncombatant immunity within the U.S. military's organizational culture, especially since the Vietnam War. Contemporary U.S. military culture is characterized by an “annihilation-restraint paradox”: a commitment to the use of overwhelming but lawful force. The restraint portion of this paradox explains relatively high levels of U.S. adherence with the norm of noncombatant immunity in Iraq, while the tension between annihilation and restraint helps to account for instances of noncompliance and for why Iraqi civilian casualties from U.S. operations, although low by historical standards, have still probably been higher than was militarily necessary or inevitable.

Specter of vietnam

Lovecidal ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trinh T. Minh-ha
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
Bush Administration ◽  
The Other ◽  
Double Bind ◽  
Exit Strategy ◽  
Obama Administration ◽  
The One ◽  
The U.S

This chapter discusses the problem of an exit strategy during the final days of the George W. Bush administration and how these issues echo the U.S. policy on Vietnam of many years before. It goes further, however, to analyze how the Obama administration approached future conflict in its initial years. On the one hand, the Bush administration's official storyline had revived the familiar paranoia of having victory turned over to the enemies. On the other, the exit strategy for withdrawal also raised widespread doubt about what was achievable in Iraq and Afghanistan and what the comprehensive results of the Iraq War turned out to be. The classic double bind thus wrote itself into every discussion of the “post-Iraq” era of U.S. foreign policy.

Military Masculinity and the Deserting Soldier in Stop-Loss (2008)

2020 ◽  
pp. 135-151
Author(s):  
Thomas Ærvold Bjerre
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
Moral Courage ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Film Genre ◽  
Stop Loss ◽  
Military Masculinity ◽  
The U.S ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
War Film

The chapter outlines the deserter narrative in American war culture, with a focus on the inherent tensions between normative ideals of masculinity and transgressive notions of cowardice. The chapter then analyzes Kimberly Peirce’s 2008 Iraq War film Stop-Loss in this context. The U.S. war film genre is regulated by certain conventions regarding masculinity, heroism and national identity, but by presenting the transgressive act of desertion as one of moral courage, Peirce challenges established notions of military masculinity and national identity. This challenge remains temporary, though: the main character retains the culturally powerful trope of the ideal male soldier. Ultimately, he is unable to turn his back on his men and his country, and the film is unable to fully undermine the potent trope that links nation, military and masculinity.

scholarly journals Seeing Double: Race, Gender, and Coverage of Minority Women's Campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (02) ◽  
pp. 317-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orlanda Ward
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Minority Women ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Her Family ◽  
Campaign Coverage ◽  
Sharp Criticism ◽  
The U.S

At the U.S. 2012 general election, six minority women were newly elected to the House of Representatives, a net increase from 21 to 23, and a rise from 23% to 27% as a proportion of all women in the House (CAWP 2010, 2012). Among this group was Iraq War veteran Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI 2nd District), the first Hindu American to serve in Congress. Despite generally positive coverage, her local paper also framed Gabbard's identity as an “underdog … on the margins of popular respectability.” In Utah, Mormon Mia Love ran the first viable black female Republican campaign, securing 47% of the vote in the state's overwhelmingly white 4th District. Love was frequently framed positively as a “historic candidate” and was invited to speak at the GOP convention that year. Despite this, her self-portrayal as a product of the American dream—linking her second-generation Haitian identity to her partisan politics—drew sharp criticism. Local campaign coverage even interrogated the legality of her family history with headlines such as “Love's Immigrant Story may be True, but Some Questions Linger.”

Women and Visual Depictions of the U.S.-Iraq War in Print and Online Media

2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Keith ◽  
Carol B. Schwalbe
Keyword(s):  
Iraq War ◽  
Online Media ◽  
The U.S

What We Know Now

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. G. Runciman
Keyword(s):  
Iraq War ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Suez Canal ◽  
Weapons Of Mass Destruction ◽  
Mass Destruction ◽  
Tony Blair ◽  
Intelligence Services ◽  
British Prime Minister ◽  
The Government ◽  
The U.S

This chapter discusses the information provided by the Hutton Report and the Butler Report concerning the bases of the British government's decision to join the U.S. in overturning Saddam Hussein for his alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). It suggests that nothing revealed in the reports could bring an agreement to whether British Prime Minister Tony Blair was right in his decision, but those who have read the reports could surely conclude that the government, the intelligence services, and the BBC fell short of what have been expected of them at a time when Britain was on the brink of being taken into a war. It discusses the similarities between the Iraq War and the Suez Canal conflict.

The Mideast: Figures in the Carpet

Worldview ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 9-11
Author(s):  
Robert K. Olson
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Gulf States ◽  
Middle East Politics ◽  
Revolutionary Regime ◽  
The U.S

It is not a joking matter, but the state of Middle East politics is nothing if not absurd. Which is to say that, to the Westerner at least, the most recent rearrangement of alliances, conflicts, and rivalries follows no readily apparent pattern of loyalty or consistency—either religious or political. The Iran-Iraq war seems to have crystalized the fragmented Arab world into two opposing blocs, those siding with non-Arab Iran and those backing Saddam Hussein. But Libya and Syria, the two most pro-Soviet countries, have sided with anti-Communist, anti-Soviet Khomeini. On the other hand the Imam is opposed by the two anti-Soviet monarchies of lordan and Saudi Arabia and the non-Communist Gulf states led by pro-Soviet Iraq. The two monarchies might be expected to oppose Iran's revolutionary regime but hardly to ally themselves with a regime no less revolutionary in its own way than Iran. Not to put too fine a point on it, it was the 1958 Iraq revolution that murder ed King Faisal II, ruler of Iraq and cousin to King Hussein. We find Sunni Libya, which has sought to embarrass Alawite president of Syria Assad by stirring up opposition among the Sunni majority of Syria, united with Assad to give aid and comfort to the Shiite leader of Iran. Syria and Iraq, which are hostile to each other, are ruled by the two extant leaders of thp Baath or Renaissance party dedicated to the unity of the Arab peoples. We find Soviet-client Iraq allied with the most proAmerican states, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, against the most anti-American state, Iran. Soviet weaponry provides the security of the Arab axis against American weaponry provided to the shah. Meanwhile, Iran credits the U.S. with starting the war, even though Iran is being attacked with Soviet weaponry.

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