My Response on Brazil's and China's View of the War in Iraq

I found the article “The Self-Absorbing Bully: A Brazilian View of the United States at War” by Antonio La Pastina very similar to my own views on the War in Iraq. The view of the United States taking actions to go into war with Iraq despite the disapproval from the United Nations was seen negatively. I found the passage on page 199 to be quite amusing. The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva states, “If there is something I admire in the United States is that they first think about themselves, secondly they think about themselves and thirdly they think about themselves. If there is any time left, they think about themselves a bit more.” Some people might disagree with his statement but I find it to be quite true. My opinion is that Americans do think a lot about themselves, as well as put their needs before others. Brazil saw the United States going into war in Iraq as a way for us to acquire their oil. I can see why they would believe that, especially since the United States did not acquire approval from the United Nations.

I found Zhou He’s article, “The Chinese Watching the Iraqi War with Shock and Awe – As a Spectacular Game” to be refreshing. The different views on how other countries saw the war as interesting. In the article it states that China was watching the “high-tech war though high tech means”. For China, they compared and contrasted the United States military and weapons to their own. The media that displayed coverages on the war in Iraq was the first time China was able to view the war unfold right in front of them, especially on television screens. This interest in the War in Iraq caused the media to cater to their nations needs increasing profits and audience.

Based on the two articles, it was stated that the two Nations: Brazil and China did not have any strong ties with Iraq nor the United States. However, they both viewed the war in two different perspectives. The Chinese saw the conflict as a modern war that unfolded right before their eyes in media, with the display of the United States & Britain using advanced technology. This fascinated them that they were able to acquire so much information about the war from the newspapers and broadcasting. The Brazilians saw the conflict as the United States bullying Iraq who was not as developed as they were. They saw the war as disrespect to the United Nations. The war lead Brazilians to be concerned about the United Nations losing control of protecting international laws. The two articles were not easy to understand especially when the authors used examples from previous wars to help the reader comprehend the article more. As a reader who does not fully understand the War in Iraq, it think the articles would have been better if the author had explained the war more explicitly as well as explain the Iraq’s view on the war."