On this ten year anniversary of the invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq, we are at a loss to find any solid benefit from our long presence there. We were never welcomed as liberators. Iraqi oil never paid for our invasion. Democracy has not taken hold. Basic services still fail to function. Corruption is rampant. Violence between Sunnis and Shiites continues. The Bush administration took the sympathy and support of the international community after 9/11 and squandered it. We distracted ourselves from focusing on the Afghan War and bringing justice to the real 9/11 terrorists: Al Qaeda and their protectors the Taliban. Saddam Hussein was not behind 9/11; nor did he possess weapons of mass destruction. Iran is stronger and emboldened. Iraq cost a trillion dollars, give or take, and close to 4,000 American lives with many more wounded. The Iraqi toll is much higher. What did it get America or the cause of world peace? While I doubt this war was just an honest mistake, I don't think prosecuting Bush, Cheney and company as "war criminals" is a way to fix it. The most reprehensible part is when war supporters paint this as a positive outcome. If this was Iraq's "liberation", where's the freedom?
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