Justification of the Iraq War Despite beliefs to the contrary, the Iraq War can certainly be justified. This war began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by US troops under the command of former President George W. Bush. This invasion can be justified for several reasons. The biggest is that Iraq posed a grave threat to its own people due to a corrupt and distorted government led by dictator Saddam Hussein. Furthermore, Iraq posed a substantial threat to other nations of the world, including the United States of America, due to its prior possession of weapons of mass destruction and its ties to terrorist groups. It would be misleading not to mention the economic benefits that motivated the American government to occupy Iraq. However, overall, US involvement in the Middle East was, without a doubt, justified. Under Saddam Hussein's regime no Iraqi citizen was safe. It is estimated that over 600,000 people were brutally killed under his watch, although no one can know the exact number. This is attributable to the fact that Saddam's associates were not known to document many of the tortures, rapes and savage massacres. Those who were simply thought to denigrate Saddam's administration were often targeted. Many of the executions were carried out by the Fedayeen Saddam paramilitary group, led by Saddam's eldest son Uday, infamous for raping and torturing young girls. They were known to "make women kneel in crowded city squares, along crowded sidewalks, or in neighborhood lots, then behead them with swords." One of Saddam's most high-profile atrocities took place in 1988, when Saddam sent 200,000 soldiers to carry out the Anfal campaign. This campaign was intended to eradicate the... center of the paper... homepage. 1 September 2010. Web. 02 June 2011. .Burns, John F. "How Many People Did Saddam Hussein Kill?" Iraq Foundation website. New York Times. Network. June 2, 2011. "CNN.com - Iraqis Attack Saddam Symbols - April 9, 2003." CNN.com - Breaking news, US, world, weather, entertainment and video news. 09 April 2003. Web. 02 June 2011. Secondary sources: "IRAQ: Iraqi ties to terrorism". Council on Foreign Relations. Network. 02 June 2011. .Laws, violation of war. “Top 10 Pros and Cons – United States – Iraq War – ProCon.org.” US-Iraq ProCon.org. Network. May 29 2011. .