Operation Iraqi Freedom

Brief:

As most of you know, Operation Iraqi Freedom was a military response to Saddam Hussein's refusal to give in to a United States ultimatum. The United States believed that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, claims that later were discovered to be false. The end result of the conflict was that Hussein was ousted from power, captured, and executed. The actual military fighting ending fairly quickly, however after the war's supposed end, an insurgency has complicated development in the country. A power vacuum was left by Saddam's departure and their has been civil war between different sects in the country. The outcome following the war has left Americans wondering whether Iraq is really any better off before we liberated them.

Stats 

United States Fatalities: 4412 (As of July 20th, 2010)

Iraqi Civilian Deaths: 95,082-105,855 (As of July 20th, 2010)

Analysis

The initial cause for the war was wrong. Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. It was only after this that the operation in Iraq became a humanitarian intervention. This change of heart refutes the "altruistic" intentions of the United States. It is unclear what we wanted out of Iraq. Oil? We haven't gotten much. An ally in the Middle East? It will probably take another 25 years before Iraq is a full functioning ally of the United States. Its rather hard to be productive after the United States overthrew the social structure and bombed the country back into the middle ages. 

The carnage during the reign of Saddam Hussein and during American occupation are comparable. It is obvious that Iraqis are not "grateful" for being liberated. Unlike the Persian Gulf War, this war in Iraq made the United States seem like a trigger happy, Muslim hating, killing machine. The war was accompanied by an economic backlash.

The Bottom Line:

This intervention was unnecessary. The government pulled a fast one on the civilians and used the high emotion time of 9/11 to strike a totally unrelated enemy. The only thing this intervention did was cause problems with Muslims and divert efforts from catching Osama Bin Laden.