War on Terror

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War on Terror and Human Rights

Motives for Intervention

Attack on Twin Towers

Suspected WMDs in Iraq

Claimed that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the 'west'

Spread of so-called Islamic State across Iraq and Syria

Slaughter innocent civilians

Use modern communications e.g. social media websites to recruit younger Muslims

Some military experts say that IS can only be defeated by direct engagement on the ground and not just air strikes

Pursued strategy of annihilating minority communities inc. Kurds, Assyrians, Shabaks, Turkmens and Yazidis

Took control of parts of Iraq and Syria and declared a 'caliphate'

Took advantage of power vacuum in Iraq and Syrian civil war

Political instability in the area

Human rights abuses

Oil

Type of Intervention

Military

Invasion

Troops on the ground

Afghanistan

Iraq

Air strikes/bombings

Syria

Iraq

Afghanistan

What Was Done

Iraq War

US forces advanced into Baghdad

Airstrikes of Baghdad

Capture of Saddam Hussein in Dec 2003

Syria/IS

Airstrikes of potential IS strongholds

Airstrikes of suggested chemical weapons factories

Positives

Saddam Hussein removed from power and eventually executed

Negatives

Iraq

Created power vacuum

Allowed so-called Islamic State to take control quickly and easily

Increased anti-western feelings in the area

No WMDs found

Waste of money and resources

~3,750 non-combatants (civilians) killed

Syria

No evidence for Syrian government using chemical weapons

Waste of money/resources

Destroying civilian property e.g. hospitals, housing

Killing of innocents

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Torture and Rendition

Torture

UN Convention against Torture (1987)

Prohibits physical or mental duress to be used as a means of extracting information

Many signatories to the convention still use torture and CID acts (Cruel, Inhumane and Degrading)

USA

Imprisonment of suspects at Guantanamo Bay without trial

Rendition

Sending a foreign criminal or terrorist suspect covertly to be interrogated in a country where there is less concern about the inhumane treatment of prisoners

Countries do this to avoid being accused of directly contravening the UN Convention against Torture