INTRODUCTIONIn this article, I intend to analyze the 2003 Iraq War from a realist and Marxist/critical perspective. I intend to draw a conclusion about the theoretical framework that, in my opinion, is the most appropriate and allows for a rational understanding of the Iraq War. In conducting a comparative analysis of two competing approaches, I do not intend to entirely reject one theory in favor of another. However, I intend to weigh the shortcomings of both theories on a golden scale in order to determine which theory ultimately provides or intends to provide a watertight analysis of the Iraq War. REALISTIC PERSPECTIVE Followers of the realist school of thought champion this cause. of the 2003 Iraq War from a power and security perspective. The Bush administration's justification for launching a preemptive strike against Iraq was based on two misleading assumptions: first, that Iraq possessed or was developing weapons of mass destruction (along with Iran and North Korea ) and secondly, he aided and protected terrorist organizations. like Al-Qaeda. Such conjecture based on unsubstantiated evidence helped the Bush administration conjure up a dystopian situation that justified the 2003 invasion of Iraq under the guise of "maximizing security." This explanation was given in application of the realist assumption that states, as rational actors, always act in accordance with their national security interests. However, the failure to procure putative weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has forced realist apologists to invoke the concept of "offensive realism." " to explain the 2003 Iraq War. They claimed that Iraq's acquisition of uranium and aluminum tubes posed a "security dilemma" for the United States and its allies. According to Wheeler and Booth, security dilemmas... middle of paper ... prevent losing dominance in the oil-rich Gulf region. Saddam's challenge challenged American supremacy, and as a result, a planned invasion of Iraq was launched by the United States and its allied forces in 2003. The invasion had a dual objective: one was to secure Iraq's oil resources and the other was to reassert its political-economic dominance. in a region of great strategic importance to the United States. Realist theory restricts the scope of the interpretation of war to power politics characterized by military capacity, while critical and Marxist thought uses "historical structures" to understand why power is exercised in a certain way. This broadens the scope of the concept of power beyond the military perspective. Thus, the Iraq War, which took place beyond "offensive realism", can be better understood within the theoretical framework of critical/Marxist theory..