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Iraq War and the war on terror
Iraq-US relations / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Iraq War, along with the War in Afghanistan, was described by President of the United States George W. Bush as "the central front in the War on Terror", and argued that if the U.S. pulled out of Iraq, "terrorists will follow us here."[2][3][4]
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"War on terror" discourse dominated US media outlets for several post-9/11 years. In 2003, majority of Americans believed Iraqi-links to 9/11 conspiracy theory, which facilitated the Bush administration's agenda for the invasion of Iraq. Throughout the 2000s, political consensus in United States juxtaposed Iraq within the framework of the "war on terror". Despite the emergence of dissent to the consensus in the late 2000s; Republican politicians, candidates and advocacy groups continued to paint the Iraq-centric strategy as the solution to the "9/11 problem".[5]
As the conflict dragged on, members of the U.S. Congress, the American public, and even U.S. troops have questioned the connection between the Iraq War and the fight against terrorism. Multiple leading intelligence experts have argued that the war in Iraq actually increased terrorism. The ensuing conflict in Iraq has seen prolonged American involvement in the country against multiple terrorist and non-terrorist groups.