According to Mitchell (2006), enlightenment theory represents a heterogeneous moral theory that believes in reason and rationality. Enlightenment theory views the world as organized in accordance to reason, as well as science. Enlightenment principles are against myths, personal feelings, revelations, unquestionable authorities, and superstitions. While considering enlightenment principles and values, the paper shall analyze reasons that pushed the USA to enter into war with Iraq (Mitchell, 2006). The broadest agreement on the removal of Saddam Hussein included the need to neutralize the tyrant and arrogant leader. The mentioned reason already explains that the reasons for invading Iraq were sentimental and emotional in thinking and had nothing to do with rationality.
The Bush administration continue to defend their decision, by mentioning the availability of ‘weapons of mass destruction' (WMD) and the relationship the country shared with Al Qaeda. The key elements of the pro-war argument include the Bush government misleading Americans on the threat posed by Iraq. Mitchell (2006) explains that the continued attacks in Iraq and the increased cost of US occupying Iraq amounted to over $100 billion, leading many to reconsider their initial support for the war. As much as the US had their reasons to invade Iraq, the most significant enlightenment value includes autonomy and people's freedom, something the US violated. Invading Iraq violated Iraq's right to freedom and autonomy, by attacking citizens in their own country that are a sovereign country.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Bush government built its rationale on six major themes that included possession of WMD, the threat of Saddam to the Middle East, Iraq's association with al Qaeda, country's lack of democracy and dictatorship tendencies' and harsh treatment imposed on Iraq civilians. US government wanted to create a free, autonomous and democratic Iraq, which would have served as an example to other leaders in the area. Understanding the decision to invade Iraq starts with claims by George Bush on WMDs and associated 9/11 attacks. Similarly, Michael (2000) indicate that it was followed by the obscured ideological debates concerning American rights. The debates grew in the 1990s, stemming from disagreements in Republican Party in relation to American power. There was an evolution of right-leaning as well as heterodox intellectual movements aimed towards neo-conservatism. Neo-conservatism has been around for many years, supporting mixed humanitarian impulses where Americans have messianic faith in the ability and virtuous nature of the American military. Other ideals shared by many Americans included the deep fear towards outside world that they believed was threatening and compromised morally.
The ideology included the belief that authoritarian states were destabilized and dangerous, hence the moral good and inherent necessity for the US to fight dictators like Saddam Hussein and replace with democratic systems (Mitchell, 2006). The main reason included the desire to dominate globally as a superpower through the questioning of any country and leader that displays unquestionable morality leadership. Neo-conservatism proponents developed an obsession for Iraq mainly for strategic and political reasons (Love, 2008). It was unfortunate that the obsession changed into explicit policies that prompted regime change. The case was ideological in nature and based in abstract as well as untested theories on world politics and imagined a rightful place in the US. The belief sank even further after the 9/11 attacks shaking US foreign policy, hence the Americans validated their worldview belief and necessity to ensure Iraq was democratic.
However, the ideological conviction only reflected the skepticism nature of the Americans and had nothing to do with intelligence or well-researched reasons to invade the country (Michael, 2000). For instance, WMDs represented a stated justification, with the American government basing it on intense intelligence, something they never made transparently. It then reflects on another enlightenment value of transparency, where the government never produced any researched evidence of WMDs. It was apparent that Iraq mistakes were not related to any dangers posed by the country, but the desire to sweep ideologies as well as ambitions to become a superpower (Mitchell, 2006). Republican Party propagated neo-conservatism ideology, with some of their tenets supported by Democrats. It provided the mandate to engage in the war, having exclusive faith in US military force and animating the ideology leaning towards the Middle East.
The situation is even worse because up to date, neither the Democrats nor Republican have explained or shown comprehension of how the ideology and obsession towards Iraq developed. More so, few have considered the dangers of such ideologies in enhancing catastrophic war even in the current world. According to Mitchell (2006), few months to the war, many U.S officials, and allies emphasized that Iraq possessed WMD, representing a major threat to the US and world security at large. For instance, President Bush gave a speech in Ohio in 2002, explaining that Iraq is engaged in the manufacturing of biological and chemical weapons. The same assertion was expounded by Congress members from Democratic and Republicans as well as UN Security Council. They both agreed that Iraq had a dictator leader that shouldn't be permitted to threaten the US and the world using atomic weapons.
The same sentiments were supported by Tony Blair that presented dossier by UK intelligence body that revealed Iraq had manufactured biological and chemical weapons and Saddam Hussein had the intentions to release the weapons immediately. Former UK prime minister confirmed that Saddam had appropriate military plans to use the weapons likely to be activated within 45 minutes starting with own Shia population in Iraq (Mitchell, 2006). The US picked up on the issue, indicating the need to protect US territory as well as civilians in Iraq. There was increased veracity towards Tony Blair claims to lead to an inquiry into the investigation of an apparent suicide by David Kelly after being tagged as an anonymous source that doubted the BBC report. Despite Blair government cleared of any wrongdoing after the investigations the resignation of key government figures including Alastair Campbell was a reflection of lack of objectivity.
According to Love (2008), objectivity relied on the location of attributed items, in this case, the chemical and biological weapons, and the conceptual tie it has towards human sensibilities. It relies on a nation having a systematic relationship between attitudes towards the affected country and the attitudes they evoke among the nationals. Mitchell (2006) clarify that what made the judgments by both Tony Blair and George Bush alongside their advisors and intelligence units true or false lied in the fact that reports and dossiers lead to similar belief in varied observers, and when there are any differences, then there is a need for explanation. It goes beyond a mere platitude to graduate to a tautology, whose truth is perceived by those interpreting the beliefs. In this case, the perceivers included US citizens and other world players that played a major decision in Iraq invasion.
Later on, it was apparent that hasty intelligence decisions and desire to reform sufficed short-term political implications. The intelligence decisions by US and UK government were not reliable because of lack of transparency. In the end, the invasion never offered a lasting and long-term policy solution to terrorism. Jackman and Muhha (2014) explain that the defense analyst Anthony Cordesman indicated that the 9/11 Commission report represented a futile activity and exercise that lacked explicit analysis on how issues that transpired could receive maximum solutions by invading Iraq. It showed a major weakness in US intelligence that had no prowess to warn citizens on imminent attacks.
The report, for instance, failed to diagnose and prescribe effective ways to handle the intelligence failure associated with Iraq War in 2003. It represented a wrong diagnosis, with intelligence failure including outlier boutiques established independently from the necessary intelligence structures, hence having no collaboration. An example of such a policy included the formation of ‘Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group’ (PCTEG), which represented a Pentagon section formed after the 9/11 attacks (Mitchell, 2006). PCTEG was formed upon rejection of report by intelligence group that termed Iraq assessment threat as very conservative by most influential White House political leaders. As a response, Bush leadership started an internal debate on provided assessments tasking PCTEG to establish a relationship between terrorist groups and their supporters, financially and technologically.
It brings us to another enlightenment principle referred to as competition, which required US officials and intellectual circles to show much commitment to argumentation process requiring competitive analysis activities. For instance, there was competition between intelligence groups, with each wanting to show more relevance to why US should invade Iraq with the help of other world bodies such as UN and states like the UK. Both made an effort to produce superior intelligence information using same raw data, yet in reality, all were mere estimative processes (Jackman & Muha, 2014). It is possible to sharpen the estimative processes to look legit and substantial when there are competing ideas presented in a structured format. According to Love (2008), the virtue linked to competitive analysis lies in the ability to permit differing opinions at high leadership levels, hence sharpening the enlightenment debate.
For instance, Vice President Dick Cheney in his speech emphasized what had been said by Tony Blair and George Bush that Saddam had manufactured WMD to attack US friends, allies and the country (Michael, 2006). Such statements make the enlightenment core values aspiration to promote intellectual progress, with the aim of improving human society as well as individual lives. In this case, the leaders emphasizing on WMD believed it was significant to protect the US by attacking the main enemies in Iraq. A similar view could be shared by early thinkers such as Locke, Spinoza, and Descartes that helped learners understand philosophy associated with excellence.
Over the years, enlightenment has been linked to political ideologies and revolutions and the stimulation of US community to pass policies aimed towards attacking Iraq for not so reliable reasons represent one of the factors. Michael (2006) asserts that the invasion aimed towards stopping a violent political situation created by Saddam Hussein a dictator. Despite enlightenment representing a diverse intellectual as well as social movement, there was no definite end attacking Iraq could end the reign of Saddam and restore democracy in Iraq (Engel, 2006). Without a doubt, the neoconservative ideologies and convictions mainly led to the US community and other world players to have an obsession towards Saddam (Jackman & Muha, 2014). The supporters believed there was an urgent need to rebuild Middle East that looked as a threat to the US by stabilizing Iraq and making it democratic again (Love, 2008). The US citizens developed blind faith in their military, which represented an opportunity for positive transformation. It was an opportunity to validate the flawed intelligence units that were in competition with one another.
Bush administration acted as intelligence disseminators, vetting own processes and handling the agencies on its own. Immediately after the 9/11 attack, Bush and his deputy formed a Threat Matrix, starting personal reviews on raw intelligence provided by the intelligence staff.
Treatment of Mental Health Patients
The innovation pace in psychotropic drugs remains rapid in the last decade, as well as an unprecedented increase in expenditure on prescription drugs on generic drugs as well as psychotropic medication. Psychotropic medication plays a significant role in the treatment of mental illness but has continued to receive much scrutiny from many health insurers, budget producers and the general public (Moreira-Almeida et al., 2006) . Public policy decisions on drug prescription have affected clinical care of patients with mental disorders. The cost of the care to affected individuals, society and prospective future scientific development remain critical. While considering all the factors mentioned above, it is essential to relate them to enlightenment values, and how society and the mental medical field has affected mental health treatment, quality as well as the cost of the entire treatment.
For instance, the current high-profile mass shooting has triggered a national conversation on mental illness, with everyone agreeing that there is a need for American society to reflect on the events. Currently, there have been numerous isolated violent instances, with the topic not having a decisive conclusion. It is apparent that the first principle violated includes method principle. For instance, the health insurance companies and hospitals must understand their role in society and things to do to stay in competition (Moreira-Almeida et al., 2006) . Unfortunately, most aim towards maximization of profits, with no intention of healing the growing population of mentally-ill individuals in American society.
According to Moreira-Almeida et al. (2006) , the society led by media society must expose the mundane social effects of mental conditions by making them headline-worthy, because the pervasive effect has been acutely felt in the entire country. Currently, statistics show that one prisoner among five imprisoned shows severe mental condition. It is an indication that people that have serious mental illness have a higher chance of going to prison as compared to a hospital bed ( Moreira-Almeida et al., 2006). Apart from the jailing and prison overcrowding, mentally ill persons remain vulnerable to victimization by other prisoners. Their reactions towards those victimizing them are aggressive and they end up spending more time in confinement, thus developing suicidal tendencies when behind bars as compared to the non-mentally, ill prisoners. Additionally, the group costs the government much more when in prison compared to the healthy ones.
It is apparent that the situation is dire, hence the need to understand the broken enlightenment values by society and mainly the government and role of mental institutions. The major undoing includes de-institutionalization of policies over the years, which disregard mental conditions, with the assumption that the patients are just criminals that must be punished for crimes committed. In 1955, the entire American society had over 560,000 psychiatric beds, a number, which has significantly reduced to 35,000 (Moreira-Almeida et al., 2006). The situation is majorly linked to poor health policies, lack of enough mental doctors and mental facilities to sustain the patients. The absence of such facilities and beds means the patients will continue to languish in prisons and lie in emergency rooms or nursing homes. The situation gets worse for the mentally-ill homeless individuals that walk the streets untreated posing a major danger to society.
The major controversy identified under enlightenment include the reason why US health sector downsized state psychiatric hospitals and facilities, despite statistics showing increases in the condition among American citizens. The major value of the health sector has failed includes objectivity as a value. One wonders if there was any proven medical research on the topic before making the decision or it was just made on assumptions that mentally-ill deserve prison more than hospitals (Moreira-Almeida et al., 2006) . The objectivity of mental health institution and society at large should have aimed towards offering better treatment facilities for all patients, including counseling services. Imprisoning them remains subjective and as much as the federal state thinks it’s a solution, it is short-term and the negative impact could last a lifetime. The long-term negative effects involve a situation where a prisoner is released and even before finishing a week commits crimes or even murder and is imprisoned again. If the patient underwent effective treatment in a mental hospital, the likelihood of healing the condition would be high, saving society from the committed crimes and unnecessary deaths.
Currently, many sick individuals are engaged in a pernicious cycle of moving in and out of emergencies, serious hospitalization, homelessness as well as incarceration. It has led to involved stakeholders such as police, attorneys, physicians and correction officers demand major reforms in mental health because they have witnessed it firsthand. Over ten million Americans have mental challenges, representing about 4% of the entire population (Schulze & Angermeyer, 2003) . Most have been diagnosed with a bipolar condition, schizophrenia and associated depressive conditions. The individuals lack the capacity to care for themselves leave alone their family members and pose a major threat to the public. Severe mental illness requires immediate treatment at one point in their interaction. Other care facilitation includes intensive supervision, involuntary treatment, and family support. However, the patients are not receiving the help they require, showing a major failure of the government.
The government has remained skeptical when addressing issues related to mental illness, with institutions such as ‘Center of Disease Control’ having to clarify the difference between mental health and illness. According to Schulze and Angermeyer (2003) , mental health is an emotional, social and psychological well-being. Federal statistics show that only 17% of American adults have optimal mental health, and a whopping 73% require some form of professional help to attain optimal wellness. The severe and chronically nature of the mental condition varies, where some groups require limited psychiatric help, others need to be hospitalized, while others require lifetime medication, counseling, and therapy. The role of prescription clinics leads to the need to differentiate between mental illness and severe mental conditions. The differentiation is a major determinant in valid clinical as well as policy prescriptions.
Currently, mental clinic institutions have presented vague boundaries on mental health, leading to many advocates support a true agenda that pushes for grievances and social reforms. It is wrong to force mentally ill patients to compete in a similar environment with the non-mentally ill. The competition is unsuccessful and unfortunately, the current mental health system concentrates more on mental health and not the most important severe mental illness (Schulze & Angermeyer, 2003) . Conventionally, federal government leading agency pertaining to mental health and specifically ‘Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration' has indicated that this includes one of its major focuses.
It is essential for the focus to move away from the reduction of homelessness, hospitalization among the mentally ill to focus more on federal policy implementation that supports the behavioral health of the entire society. The government, insurance companies providing medication and mental hospitals have failed to link biological, social and psychological factors, likely to promote psychopathology (Schulze & Angermeyer, 2003) . Another focus includes the development of therapeutic strategies to eliminate problem-associated mental structure leaning towards political leadership.
Conclusion
Both the Iraq invasion and treatment of mental illness in American society present major enlightenment values, which the society addressed or failed to address, therefore leading to major consequences. Iraq invasion has caused numerous deaths because of the top political leadership taking skeptic and non-objective decisions. At the start, American citizens blindly trusted in their military, especially after the intelligence service failed in its role, thereby choosing to support their President. Things however changed when the impact of Iraq war became apparent, including the deaths and increased costs. Similarly, on the treatment of mentally ill patients, the government has failed to provide effective long-term treatments and therapeutic care to heal patients. Shortcuts such as imprisonment have created much bigger problems as the mentally ill face major depressions behind bars and are likely to commit more crimes.
References
Engel, P. Davidson (2006) on the Objectivity of Values and Reasons. Retrieved from https://www.argumenta.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/3-Argumenta-31-Pascal-Engel-Davidson-on-the-Objectivity-of-Values-and-Reasons.pdf
Jackman, M. R., & Muha, M. J. (2014). Education and intergroup attitudes: Moral enlightenment, superficial democratic commitment, or ideological refinement?. American Sociological Review , 751-769.
Love, R. S. (2008). The Enlightenment . New York, NY: Greenwood.
Michael, J. (2000). Anxious Intellects: Academic professionals, public intellectuals, and enlightenment values . Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Mitchell, G. R. (2006). Team B intelligence coups. Quarterly Journal of Speech , 92 (2), 144-173.
Moreira-Almeida, A., Lotufo Neto, F., & Koenig, H. G. (2006). Religiousness and mental health: a review. Revista Brasileira de psiquiatria , 28 (3), 242-250.
Schulze, B., & Angermeyer, M. C. (2003). Subjective experiences of stigma. A focus group study of schizophrenic patients, their relatives, and mental health professionals. Social Science & Medicine , 56 (2), 299-312.
