“Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.”

-John F. Kennedy

On March 20, 2003 the continuing conflict of the Iraq War, also referred to as Operation Iraqi Freedom or the occupation of Iraq, began with the United States-led invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition made up of troops from the United States and United Kingdom and backed by smaller troops from Australia, Denmark, Poland, and other nations.

At the commencement of the conflict, officials stated reasons for the invasion to be as follows: in concern of the Iraqi people and the abuse of their rights under a failing government, to extend democracy, and for the protection and securing of Iraqi oil reserves. And in his pre-election State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush elucidated on his key reasons for occupying Iraq, stating that Saddam Hussein had supposed "weapons of mass destruction-related program activities" (WMDRPA). They were buried everywhere... And any day now, proof of such weapons is bound to turn up somewhere, right?

The Bush administration’s grounds for the Iraq War have faced weighty criticism from innumerable sources both within and outside of the U.S. As stated by the Center for Public Integrity, President Bush’s administration made a total of 935 false statements between 2001 and 2003 about Iraq’s supposed risk to the U.S.; in only two years, the administration in control of our country (and, essentially, our lives) made nearly a thousand slip-ups. Now I don’t know about all of you out there, but that sure makes me feel just oh so pleasantly safe and sound. Both advocates and adversaries of the occupation have also condemned the actions of the war effort along a number of other lines. Most notably, proponents have attacked the Bush administration for not assigning enough troops to the mission, while opponents have assailed the administration for not efficiently preparing and planning for the problems that would undoubtedly be posed in a post-war zone Iraq and for allowing (and oftentimes even being the cause of) insidious human rights exploitations. As the war continues, critics have also found both lofty human losses and soaring financial costs to be a topic of highly-legitimate concern.

An estimate of the number of people killed varies from over 150,000 to more than 1 million in all. The financial cost of the war has been over $845 to the United States alone, and more than $9 billion to the United Kingdom and other nations. As of yet, total costs to the United States economy are estimated to be at around $3 to $5 trillion. Talk about being in debt, eh? I definitely don’t see the U.S digging themselves out of this hole any time soon.

Personally, I do not see what people deem as “success” happening anytime soon in this war effort. Yes, it is true that we have accomplished some of our goals such as removing the Saddam Hussein from power, giving aid to Iraqis in need, and securing the nation’s oil fields; at this point, however, I think the Bush administration has covered their eyes and ears to the screams of the people and is now more concerned in protecting their foreign interests in the oil industry. The Bush administration has to take a step back and really decipher the catastrophe that has been fashioned from this war. Too many lives have been lost, too much money has been wasted, and there are too many other local problems that should be taken care of at home in the U.S. before we take on the troubles of our neighbors (although it’s a little late to go back on our word and abandoning the chaos we’ve created in Iraq). If we don’t terminate this conflict soon, it will undoubtedly only escort us to an existence of yet more misery and obliteration.