2003 Iraq War : One of the costliest mistakes in history

One of the costliest mistakes in history has to be the 2003 Iraq War.

Back in 2003, we had the war on terror at its height, with American boots on Afghan soil and the expansion of military capabilities. But George W. Bush was listening to VP Dick Cheney, and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld to invade Iraq.

They told the American people that Iraq will be parading the American soldiers on their new-found freedom as they were liberated from Saddam Hussein and his WMDs.

Only one thing: what they said to the World to justify their “little war” were fabricated claims.

So when The USA and some other countries toppled Saddam, Bush said to the world, “Mission Accomplished” which did not happen.

First, with the dismantling of the Iraqi Army, many of these soldiers had no where to go. Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups gladly recruited them.

Second, with the Shia majority now taking power, they began to oppress the Sunnis. This helped Al Qaeda even further with recruits as they can propaganda-ize some of the disgruntled Sunnis.

Third, with the US spreading their operation into Iraq, the War in Afghanistan is less funded. Invading Afghanistan was for far more legitimate reasons - to find and kill Osama Bin Laden, and take out the Taliban. With the military spread thin, this allowed Bin laden and the Taliban to regroup far quicker.

Fourth, the debts caused by the unnecessary Iraq War were a total of around $2.4 trillion! Money that could’ve been used for education, the environment, or paying off America’s debt.

Fifth, the death of 4,486 American soldiers just for the US to have access to more oil. Not to mention the thousands more dealing with trauma, amputation, and other problems that aren’t being solved.

Sixth, the war led to the deaths of at least 112,000 Iraqi civilians.

Seventh, the US just left Iraq broken and not fixed. This lead to a power vacuum that a terrorist group in Syria was going to fill.

• All of this unnecessary violence and death because of Iraq’s abundance of oil.