Analysis of Securitizing Iraq

The article enlightens the mystery of unexpected and abrupt intensification of security forces in
Iraq by the administration of United States President George W. Bush in year 2003. Moreover, it
examines the concept of securitization by taking into account the case study of United States-Iraq.

In 1998, after the enactment of Liberation Act of Iraq, the policy of US was to overthrow President
Saddam Hussein from his reign in Iraq. Bush came to power in 2001 where in his initial era of
around one and a half years, his approach was to maintain normal politics of international level
rather than securitizing issue. In September 2002, suddenly Iraq turned into a very serious menace
and as per administration of Bush, the regime of Saddam Hussein needed to be knocked down on
urgent basis. On scrutinizing, it was observed that this sudden shift in Bush administration over
security claims does not have very solid foundation. This raised the question of how could a war
occurred with absence of objective threats? This query can be best explained by means of
‘securitization’ concept of Copenhagen School of Security Studies. This concept suggests that
security must instead be understood as an act of speech, in which the fundamental problem is not
whether the threats are real or not, but the means by which an issue (troop arrangements,
relocations) can be publicly portrayed as a threat.

In traditional concept, security is nearly identifying the alleged objective aspects, which
categorically needs to be declared and treated as ‘security’ issue. On contrary, securitization takes
security as a situation that is shaped or generated when entitled about existing menace, which
ultimately leads to deployment. Copenhagen school defines securitization as (I) ‘An act of speech’,
speaking in a way that provokes others to act. (II) ‘Securitize’, a practice in which securitizing
actors try to insert security into matters and ask for rights to take action to halt a threat. (III)
‘Functional Actors’ are those performers who have a meaningful influence on securitizing moves.
Thus, securitization is a conversational process in which an actor claims that reference object is
being threatened, requires that authority must be given in order to take exceptional measures to
counter that threat and persuades public that all the actions being taken to counter that threat are
legitimate. To cut short, in order to dramatize the situation, political actors proclaim the matter as
a security issue that needs to be resolved on priority basis by inserting security. The intention of
the article is to examine the explanatory significance of this theoretical framework.

The ‘securitization’ concept of Copenhagen School, therefore, appears to be best suitable to

explain the behavior of administration of Bush in Iraq. In early era of Bush regime, his approach
was to deal all matters related to Iraq politically rather securitizing the matters. In 2001, Bush was
suggested twice by United States General Tommy Franks to do vigorous military planning
regarding Iraq but Bush did not pay heed to the suggestion. After the terrorist attacks of September
2001, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was informed by Bush that Iraq was not an instant threat.
The focus of Bush administration was to deal with the major issue of Taliban regime in
Afghanistan.
Before September 2002, administration of Bush declared Iraqi regime as a threat in a frightening
way. References presented were strict and indicated the existence of threat. As an example, in July
2002, Iraq along with some other countries was marked in bad terms. Moreover, Iraq was found
to be accused of violating human rights and trafficking. Likewise, Iraq was criticized for
supporting suicide bombers who were plotted for suicide bombings in Israel. None the less, the
search of official website of White House indicated that negligible public discussion about Iraq
was done before September 2002. The discussions before the month of September did not go with
the conditions of securitization effort. Thus, his policies of dealing with matters politically related
to Iraq were serving the purpose and there was not an urgent and pressing need to take strong
military action against Iraq.
In September 2002, the Bush administration changed their body language and policies
dramatically. Suddenly, Iraq became a threat which needs to be overcome on utmost priority basis.
Bush administration now adopted the vocabulary of securitization and planned to insert security
to get rid of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The strategic members of Bush administration grabbed the
character of securitizing actors by portraying Iraq as a threat of national security that would
generate emergency at national level. In order to trigger the emotions of public, a range of
conversational tools were used. These included long speeches, interviews on electronic media,
articles and presence before Congress. This was all done to build the image against Iraq.
On September 12 Bush made a speech in United Nations General Assembly in which he
emphasized that if no immediate action was taken against Iraq, then it will result in a risk of
millions of lives. United States Vice President Dick Cheney proclaimed that Iraq has weapons of
mass destruction and Iraq had planned to use the weapons against US, friends and allies of US.
Likewise, US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld stated that if Iraq used its weapon of mass destruction,
then not only 3000 people will be killed as happened on September 11, but the casualties in this
case will be more than tens of thousands of people. It can be fairly understood that Rumsfeld knew
the significance the words can have on the mind of public in terms of security.
This was the period when US had strengthen security plot against Saddam Hussein’s regime. The
Iraq issue was no longer considered to be a kind of threat that could have been dealt by means of
politics. This dramatic change had happened overnight and US had taken practical vigorous
military actions against Iraq. The words of officials of Bush administration were believed and
hence it is concluded that US move for securitization of Iraq flourished.