The neoconservative establishment has pushed America into foreign wars for decades.
They’ve sacrificed American blood and treasure for conflicts that never had a clear exit strategy.
And George W. Bush made this catastrophic decision that cost Americans trillions and thousands of lives.
Bush fell for the Deep State’s war agenda
After the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center, the Washington, D.C. Swamp was itching for revenge – not just against the actual perpetrators in Afghanistan but against any regime they could target.
Iraq quickly became the focus of neoconservative war hawks inside the Bush administration, even though the country had nothing to do with 9/11.
In October 2002, President Bush secured Congressional authority to act against Iraq based on flimsy intelligence and outright falsehoods.
And Bush was about to drag America into a devastating foreign war that would haunt the nation for decades.
The Military-Industrial Complex manufactured consent
“Intelligence” reports fed to the American people claimed Iraq was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and harboring terrorist organizations.
“Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised,” Bush declared, repeating what turned out to be completely false information.
The establishment media dutifully parroted these claims without proper scrutiny, and Americans were bombarded with around-the-clock propaganda about the so-called “axis of evil.”
What the American people weren’t told was that the CIA’s own reports showed significant uncertainty about these claims, and U.N. weapons inspectors on the ground in Iraq were finding no evidence of WMDs.
Donald Trump, years later, would call the decision “the single worst decision ever made,” and compared it to “throwing a big fat brick into a hornet’s nest.”
Trillions wasted on Bush’s ultimatum
On March 17, 2003, President Bush addressed the nation and delivered an ultimatum that would lead to a two-decade-long quagmire.
“All the decades of deceit and cruelty have now reached an end,” Bush stated. “Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing.”
What Bush didn’t tell the American people was the astronomical cost this adventure would entail – over $2 trillion according to Brown University’s Cost of War Project, which amounts to nearly $8,000 for every man, woman, and child in America.
The true cost when factoring in veteran care and interest payments could exceed $6 trillion.
America never needed to invade Iraq
Before issuing his ultimatum, Bush had organized a “coalition of the willing” – a term used to mask the fact that this was primarily an American operation with token support from allies pressured into joining.
When Hussein’s deadline passed, Phase One commenced on March 19, 2003, and America was plunged into another Middle Eastern war with no clear exit strategy.
As Ron Paul warned at the time, “I believe very sincerely that the CIA is correct when they teach and talk about blowback. When we went into Iran in 1953 and installed the Shah, yes, there was blowback. The reaction to that was the taking of our hostages.”
His prophetic words about Iraq would soon prove true as well.
The invasion was based on lies
The Iraqi army, portrayed as a serious threat, proved to be a paper tiger – further proof that the Pentagon had grossly exaggerated the danger to justify the invasion.
As American forces swept through Iraq, they discovered something shocking: there were no weapons of mass destruction. None.
By 2005, even the CIA had to admit that Iraq had abandoned its WMD program years before the invasion.
The entire premise of the war – the claim that sent 4,586 American service members to their deaths – was completely false.
And what about the “imminent threat” Bush spoke of? Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld later admitted, “To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two.”
The quagmire began immediately
The initial military victory was swift, but what followed was a protracted occupation that the Bush administration had completely failed to plan for.
American troops, trained for conventional warfare, found themselves acting as police in a country descending into civil war, insurgency, and sectarian violence.
The conflict directly killed at least 4,586 American service members, with tens of thousands more suffering life-altering injuries.
The Veterans Administration reports that over 300,000 Iraq veterans suffer from PTSD, and thousands have committed suicide since returning home.
This catastrophic toll on America’s bravest citizens never had to happen.
“Mission Accomplished” became a national embarrassment
President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003 – a photo op that would come back to haunt him as Iraq descended into chaos.
The real mission – the occupation of Iraq and attempt to create Western-style democracy in a nation with no such tradition – was just beginning, and it would prove to be a disastrous failure.
As Trump later observed, “We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. And you know what we have for it? Nothing.”
The power vacuum created by toppling Saddam Hussein eventually gave rise to ISIS, creating yet another terror threat that would require further American intervention.
The war destabilized the entire region, strengthened Iran’s position, and created millions of refugees – many of whom would later flood into Europe.
The Deep State got exactly what it wanted
While American families buried their sons and daughters, the military-industrial complex reaped enormous profits.
Defense contractors like Halliburton – where Vice President Dick Cheney had previously served as CEO – received billions in no-bid contracts.
As Ron Paul wrote in his 2008 book The Revolution: A Manifesto, “Look at the lobbyists who argue for more military spending than even the Pentagon requests, and who come up with reasons to build weapons systems the military doesn’t even want. These aren’t champions of a strong national defense. They’re people with a vested interest in a bloated military budget.”
The Iraq War represented everything wrong with the Washington, D.C. establishment – lies, profiteering, and total disregard for American lives and taxpayer dollars.
And the American people are still paying the price for Bush’s catastrophic decision to this day.
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