Although the international relationship between the United States and Iraq has been nothing less than rocky for more than a decade, the resounding remarks made by President Bush identifying Iraq as a member of the \axis of evil"" has further escalated the situation.
The statement, which came in the president's State of the Union address last Tuesday, has caused concern both within the United States and abroad.
""There is no indication, no evidence that Iraq is involved in the terrorism we have been talking about for the last few months,"" said Germany's Deputy Foreign Minister, Ludger Vulmer, in response to Bush's comments in a press conference Monday.
But Bush maintains his stance that President Saddam Hussein and Iraq have ""something to hide from the civilized world.""
""The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade,"" Bush said.
UW-Madison Political Science Professor Michael Barnett said while he agreed with the view that something needs to be done in Iraq concerning the weapons of mass destruction, he found the president's declaration somewhat alarming.
""There is quite a long way to go from the present situation towards it being an 'axis of evil,'"" he said. ""I think it was an unfortunate choice of words.""
Direct conflict between Iraq and the United States dates back to 1990 and the former President Bush's administration. Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the United States took up arms against the Iraqis, claiming to be on the side of a free Kuwait.
Following six weeks of U.S. strategic bombing of Iraqi military and civilian targets and the brief deployment of ground troops, Hussein ordered the evacuation of Kuwait and Bush ordered a cease-fire.
Since then, save the short-lived Operation Desert Fox, there has been no military action between the two nations. On several occasions, however, Iraq has expelled or denied access to U.N. weapons inspectors, leading to the current President Bush's apprehensions.
But Iraq is no stranger to controversy, having allegedly used poison gases and chemicals not only in its near decade long conflict with Iran, but also on the Kurds, an ethnic faction within Iraq. Despite heavy U.N. economic sanctions, the regime still continues to thrive, while an estimated 1.5 million Iraqi citizens have died as a result.
""Iraq is an extremely brutal dictatorship, on that mostly everyone agrees, but it is not a terrorist state,"" said David Morgan, UW-Madison visiting professor of history and religious studies, who has an expertise in current affairs of the Middle East. ""It is a problem, but not a problem that will go away with making generalized statements. It was vague rhetoric, what [Bush] implied or what he will do is anyone's guess.""
Morgan also said he worried about an overly ambitious United States justifying war in the name of terrorism.
""It is hard to tell if you can accuse [Iraq, Iran and North Korea] of terrorism,"" Morgan said. ""There are some elements of terrorist support within those nations, but the assumption that you can justify going after those regimes on the basis of terror and what happened on Sept. 11 is obviously misguided.""
Barnett, too, said he saw U.S. military action as a costly mistake.
""In the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. had many allies on its side because its cause was viewed as a just cause. But further aggression would see many, if not all our allies, not go along with what we do.\
