The Never-Ending Iraq War

In 2003 then president George W. Bush declared that the United States was going to invade Iraq to dispose of Saddam Hussein and remove him from power for the purpose of eliminating the threat of chemical weapons that he and Iraq were supposed to have in their possession.

The Bush administration claimed this was a necessary action to ensure world peace and peace in the Middle East.

U.S. troops successfully toppled Hussein's government and removed him from power but found no chemical weapons of mass destruction which led many to doubt if they ever existed. It was later discovered that the intelligence used to support the invasion of Iraq was faulty at best and fabricated at most. Scanty information cleverly packaged as reliable information was presented to the American people and the United Nations to validate a "pre-emptive war" against Iraq which has in some form or another dragged on for more than a decade with no end in sight.

In 2014 after more than 4500 U.S. troops have been killed and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens dead as a result of the war America still finds itself entangled in warfare that continues to engulf Iraq. Now with ISIS waging war against Iraqi military forces and appearing to be winning America finds itself once again contemplating going to war in a country that has had a grip on her for 11 plus years.

By now everyone knows that the pretense that then president George W. Bush used to take America to war with Iraq was false. There were no weapons of mass destruction. No chemical weapons caches and no threat to the United States or anywhere else. But that is water under the bridge. The ensuing war lasted only a few weeks but the insurgency that it spawned has lasted ever since.

Various Islamic extremist groups have formed since the initial invasion of Iraq making it a melting pot for terrorist groups and a natural training ground for future terrorists. The latest group ISIS has reigned horror down on the Iraqi citizenry and has all but taken over the country. Many Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts as the group gained strength and numbers leaving the country open for takeover. Now the United States is faced with the dilemma of allowing them to eventually take over the nation or go to war with them to drive them out.

Earlier this year America withdrew the remainder of its combat forces out of Iraq and left only a small contingent of soldiers as consultants and advisors. The recent activities of ISIS however have prompted the U.S. to increase its troop presence in Iraq to about 3000 soldiers who are reportedly acting in an advisory capacity. This however is the same capacity that soldiers in Vietnam were in when troop levels were escalated and America found itself in a full scale war.

Increased troop levels in Iraq mean increased danger to those troops. If those troops are fired upon even as advisors, the rules of engagement dictate that they can return fire if they determine that they are in eminent danger. That in and of itself could turn into an all out firefight that could develop into a small war with the potential to escalate into a full scale engagement.

The very presence of U.S. troops in Iraq has the potential to pull America back into war in a country that has had some form of war since we invaded it. That alone is reason for concern.

Americans have had enough of war. We have been engaged in war in the Middle East for the better part of 13 years now. It is time for us to leave those nations to their own devices. The problem with that is America bears the lion's share of responsibility for the condition in Iraq. We caused that problem so we are obligated to help deal with it.

When the Bush administration and his advisors initially planned the invasion of Iraq they believed that the United States would be hailed as heroes and liberators and welcomed with open arms but that has not happened. What has actually happened is we succeeded in destabilizing the entire region and turning it into a terrorist's dream.

Now for all intent and purpose America will be joined at the hip with Iraq until kingdom come.

May God have mercy on us.