After more than two years after the last United States soldiers were withdrawn from Iraq, it’s a good time to recollect what happened in the Iraq war. The war consisted of two invasions, the first of which started on March third 2003, followed by a longer phase of fighting. The US withdrew all troops by December 2011. The United States and the United Kingdom both claimed that Iraq possessed WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) which posed a security threat to their countries and regional allies. However, after the first invasion the US could not find any WMDs, one of the largest premises for the war. Bush and his administration pressed the country to go to war without “serious debate” (as George J. Tenet put it, the former director of the CIA). Some U.S. officials accused and publicly stated that Saddam Hussein was helping AL-Qaeda, even though there was no evidence to support this argument.

The war cost 751 billion dollars-initially-almost eight times as much as the expected cost, which was around 100 billion dollars. However, one trillion dollars extra are expected to be spent, funding veteran health care until 2050. In 2008, Iraq was fifth on the failed states index, and sixth in 2009. Public opinion geared toward troop withdrawals and many countries in the coalition withdrew their forces. In 2009 President Obama ordered an 18 month troop withdrawal, which left 50,000 troops in Iraq to advise and train Iraqi troops. The Iraq war ended on December 15th, 2011, and lasted 8 years, 8 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days. Although the total number is not sure, the number of soldiers and civilians that died in violent deaths due to the Iraq war hovers around 170,000-180,000 lives. The international opinion of the war showed that 73% of the global population disagreed with the US handling the war. Criticisms include but are not limited to: legality of the war, casualties, financial costs, adverse effect on US “War on terror”, oil costs, and damage to the USA’s traditional alliances with Israel and Saudi Arabia. However, 77% of the Iraqi population think that Iraq is better without Saddam Hussein, which drives another question.

Was the dismantling of Saddam Hussein worth war on false claims, 162,000 lives, a huge amount of money paid by American taxpayers (which is in total estimated to get to around 1.9 trillion dollars), and damage to international relations? And did the war actually improve life for Iraqi citizens? Malnutrition rates have risen from 19% to 28% just after four years since the war started. 60% through 70% of all Iraqi children are suffering from psychological problems. Three million Iraqi citizens have been displaced, and half of all Iraqi Christians had fled to other countries since the war started. Clearly, this is a war that should not have been fought, a war that makes the American “War on Terror” seem like a joke.