Argumentative Essay About the Iraq War

The world watched as the US invaded and killed thousands in Iraq. The war in Iraq began in 2003. It was started by the US government to depose President Saddam Hussein based on lies. They claimed the government had weapons of mass destruction, which was false. Thousands of innocent people died due to the war. Clearly, the war in Iraq was a mistake, as thousands of people died and both countries are in worse states than before the war.

For example, thousands of innocent civilians and soldiers died during a war that brought no success. During the span of the war, it is estimated by the Washington Post that about 460,000 innocent people were killed. Around 60% of these people died from direct violence from the war. The number of civilian deaths was unusually high, as the US was using precision weapons attempting to take out Iraqi leaders. The other 40% of people died due to the United States’ inability to rebuild the country. Thousands perished from lack of food and clean water. After Saddam Hussein was deposed, US soldiers stayed and occupied the country, igniting an insurgency from the people and terrorist groups. Many of these terrorist groups and  militias were formed after the war, with a well known example being ISIS. These groups are indirectly the United States fault as after they invaded they weakened the country, causing them to emerge. The Iraqi people were not at fault for the war, and had nothing to do with it, yet they are the ones that suffer the consequences. At the end of the day, in war, the people that suffer, are the ordinary citizens. Even though someone could say millions of people died during many other wars, the Iraq war had high tech weapons which are designed to hit a specific target, making it hard to kill extra civilians. The war in Iraq led to thousands of innocent unnecessary deaths that could have easily been avoided.

Furthermore, both countries are in worse states than when the war began. The United States failed to rebuild Iraq, while spending billions of dollars on the war efforts. The main issue was the US had no real plans going into the war. After the invasion in 2003, the US and other foreign nations spent time from 2004-10 trying to fight and get rid of all the extremist groups. Once these groups were mainly removed, the military just left the country to suffer. They abandoned the idea of rebuilding the country and left a corrupt and heavily unpopular government to take charge of a troubled nation. The government had no control of anything, making it ineffective. Additionally, back in 2003 the Iraqi military was disbanded, leaving the nation even more open to extremist attacks. Moreover, the US separated the country by different religions and ethnic groups, which heightened tensions in the nation and brought heavy division. Even America suffered from the war. According to the CSIS, the war in total cost a whopping 765 billion dollars. This hurt America economically. Iraq may not have a ruthless dictator as their leader in Saddam Hussein anymore, however, the country has completely failed after the war and there is no hiding the United States inability to rebuild the country. The United States failed to help Iraq after invading and failed to help itself. Both nations are in much worse states than before the conflict happened.

In other words, the war in Iraq was an absolute disaster and an embarrassment for the United States. It helped no one and hurt many. The war in Iraq was a massive mistake, as hundreds of thousands of innocent bystanders died, and both nations are in much worse condition than before the war. This war was unnecessary, unneeded, and a reprehensible act by the US government. I believe the US government should apologize for starting a war that helped no one.