America is bogged down in a lengthy and costly war in Iraq with no apparent end. How did we get ourselves into such a disastrous conflict? President Bush led our nation into war in Afghanistan after the terrorist attack on our country on September 11, 2001. We were on the verge of driving Al Qaeda and the fanatical Taliban regime out of Afghanistan when the Bush administration diverted its attention away from Afghanistan to Saddam Hussein and Iraq.
The reason for the Bush team’s obsession with Iraq has not been clearly established, but the disastrous results of their decision to invade Iraq are evident. Our nation has lost in excess of 4,000 brave soldiers in Iraq, with another 30,000 being wounded, many grievously. Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have also been killed. Our troops were sent into battle with insufficient body armor and inadequate armor for vehicles. The direct cost of the war is approaching a trillion dollars, with the indirect cost being much higher. The fiasco in Iraq has alienated many of our staunchest allies and brought about bitter division among our citizens.
The war in Iraq is rife with inaccurate intelligence, bad decisions, poor planning, incompetence, and corruption. The Bush administration cherry-picked and manipulated faulty intelligence data to justify their predetermined plan to invade Iraq. The Bush team claimed Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and alluded to close ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda terrorists. Both of those claims proved to be false.
The Bush administration expected a quick and easy victory over Saddam Hussein’s regime, which they considered to be weak militarily. Not nearly enough troops were committed, Iraqi weapons and munitions depots were left unguarded after the initial invasion, Iraq’s borders were not sealed for terrorists, the widespread insurgency was not anticipated, and Saddam Hussein’s capable and experienced army was disbanded rather than recruit its troops for internal Iraqi security forces. Iraq is now a breeding ground and training field for terrorists. The Bush team did Osama bin Ladin a huge favor by invading Iraq.
Tens of billions of dollars have been wasted in Iraq because of Iraqi government corruption, fraudulent invoicing by sole-source contractors, theft by civilian and military personnel, shoddy Iraq reconstruction work, and almost non-existent oversight. Clear goals for Iraq have never been defined by the Bush administration, and a viable exit strategy was never developed. We are stuck in Iraq in the midst of internal strife and terrorism with no viable way out. It will take years to clean up the gigantic mess created by the Bush administration. I do not envy our next president his or her task in Iraq.
Herschel Hill’s book, “AMERICA, A HOUSE DIVIDED,” contains a comprehensive analysis of the war in Iraq. It is available through bookstores, amazon.com, and other internet sites. Autographed copies can be obtained directly from the author at greatly reduced prices through this webpage.
