Funcionamiento del Comité de Control y Desempeño Institucional.

The war in Iraq has been the focal point of the Bush administration’s war on terror. When one looks at the negatives and positives it seems almost one sided as to how the utilitarian would view this action. After careful analysis, however, we can see that while there is an answer, it isn’t as clear cut as many would think. First I will show the negatives. The loss of life in Iraq is probably the most troubling problem for utilitarians. Since the losses occur on both sides, this creates unhappiness for both sides. The number of dead continues to rise. At the time of this writing, for the coalition the number has reached 1,737 deaths, 1,562 of them American (CNN, 2005). There are no accurate accounts available yet for how many Iraqi’s have been killed; but an example of how many are killed monthly is the estimate for the month of April 2004: 1,361 (World Revolution, 2004).

If Saddam did in fact have weapons of mass destruction (WMD), it could be argued that the fighting and the loss of life in order to prevent the use of these weapons would have most likely resulted in preventing a high amount of unhappiness both for America and any other potential target of the regime. That being said, it is also arguable that there were other ways to achieve the elimination of these weapons, either through the United Nations or by more pressure applied by the United States. These two actions could have resulted in much more support from other nations and happiness for them. President Bush made a decision, along with Congress, however, that the potential use of these weapons was too great a danger. Since it turned out that there were no WMD, we now have a shaky relationship with other nations and a huge loss of life. This brings us to our last negative. While the shaky relationship with other nations is harmful enough, the damage of going to war for seemingly no concrete reason has prompted declarations of fear from such countries as North Korea. Also the abuse of imprisoned detainees by the soldiers in the prisons shows lack of discipline and has outraged many people, including Americans. All together this has created a great amount of unhappiness.

Some of the positives of the war in Iraq include the capture of a president who has tortured and killed his own people and the removal of his regime. The regime change has created a high amount of happiness in both Iraq and America because Saddam Hussein has done many terrible things and can no longer do them. This also means that Iraqis can elect their leader for the new government. This brought many Iraqis great pleasure and as a result counts for great happiness in the country. The potential of having a new, better government should be seen as a great positive for the Iraqi people since their old one was

very negative. However, this last point is only speculative. It remains to be seen whether a beneficial long-term government will be established.

With the potential happiness of a beneficial Iraqi government added, it seems as if that almost balances out the negatives in America’s decision to go at war with Iraq. However, since we have looked at this speculative benefit, we must look at a potentially serious speculative negative. As stated before, our ties with many countries are shaky right now. This is due to the United States going ahead with war despite the urges for delay made by the United Nations and countries such as France. These urges were made because it seemed America was bent on taking pre-emptive action without allowing for a more humane solution. As a result some countries came to see America as a very

powerful threat, should America feel the need to check a country that is doing something they think is not right. In other words, the United States is seen as an enforcer that no one has asked for. Many countries have shown an attitude of caution toward the United States as well as a loss of respect. The long-term consequences of weakened

international alliances are unknown but should not be underestimated. Also there is the potential for more terrorist attacks: not only on the nation, but also on our troops, the longer they remain in other countries enforcing something that some of its citizens don’t want. The result is worldwide unhappiness over how America handled the Iraqi threat.

A utilitarian must conclude that given the potential and actual happiness of some Iraqi citizens, some good has occurred. The problem is, however, that even with this happiness the current overwhelming unhappiness indicates the war is wrong. With the constant deaths and hostages being taken, the loss of life is high and shows now sign of stopping. As of now, the utilitarian must thus conclude that the war in Iraq is wrong.

The conclusions of this chapter are as follows: Creating a Department of Homeland Security was the right thing to do under the utilitarian analysis because it brings peace of mind and improves communication and intelligence sharing at a relatively small price, making most Americans happy. The PATRIOT Act, as it stands right now, has the potential to help but as of yet has not proven to do so in a way that can satisfy the utilitarian analysis. Thus, considering the misuse and potential misuse, it is wrong. The war in Afghanistan appears to have put a halt to many of Bin Laden’s plans and has given a sense of closure to those Americans who believe he can no longer carry out a major attack on American soil. Thus the actions in Afghanistan have made many people happy and relieved as indicated by nationwide CNN/USA Today/Gallup polls taken January 7-9, 2005, which show that 38% of Americans believe it is “not too likely” that there will be terrorist acts for the next several weeks on American soil and 52% believe such acts are “not at all likely”—very different from the polls taken in October 2001, when 33% believed further terrorism was very likely and 38% believed it somewhat likely (War on Terrorism, 2005). The War in Iraq is wrong because of the tremendous loss of life suffered, and it has arguably not reduced terrorism for the coalition troops. While Saddam has been removed, many countries and the United Nations no longer trust the United States, creating a high amount of unhappiness when considered together.