Iraq began the war by using "indiscriminate ballistic-missile attacks, extensive use of chemical weapons and attacks on third-country oil tankers in the Persian Gulf." -History.com. At this point Iraq had used the ban chemical weapons and began to push into the Iranian land. By 1988 cities along the border were in rubble and over 1,000,000 soldiers had died collectively. It was after the war that Saddam Hussein began to claim the nearing of a Nuclear Warhead. Some Americans thought he was bluffing while others grew worried of MAD coming back from the Cold War. As a result of the mismanaged and neglected cities and countries in the Middle East, terror groups began to form so that order could be in the land, but they only caused terror and fear in the citizens. Flashforward to 2001 and the terrorism has grown in the outskirts of the capital city and everywhere else In Iraq. Saddam Hussein had made little to no effort to remove the threat from the country. Saddam was more focused on suppressing the Kurdish uprising, which had been and ongoing fight since the eighties. The UN had implemented sanctions against the Iraqi government for using deadly force on the nation's own citizens. The UN had been keeping a close eye on Iraq, but now more than ever, Saddam had announced the Lethal Arms Program which was to develop nuclear and biological WMD. Later in 2002 …show more content…
As the old adage goes "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." When Bush said that the two were working together, he was not completely wrong. They were both working to undermine the Iranian government and to weaken it. They were both doing that for themselves, but they both didn’t like Iran. "Iran has historically been an enemy of the Taliban. In early August 1998, after attacking the city of Mazar, Taliban forces killed several thousand civilians and 10 Iranian diplomats and intelligence officers in the Iranian consulate. Alleged radio intercepts indicate Mullah Omar personally approved the killings." (Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, Ahmed Rashid) this proves that they two did not get along very well and could have lead to what Bush misunderstood as working together. Even though the Taliban did not conduct the terror attacks on 9/11, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda were working together in many parts of Afghanistan so that one new government could take over. The US was afraid of the mysterious conflicts and threats in the Middle