I am sure you have noticed that the above question is making the rounds.

What a load of codswallop is being spouted and printed on the subject.

Firstly it’s the wrong question as the bullets are still flying.

Till they stop there is no answer, and we all know that history is written by the victors.

But here are some hard facts from Saddam Hussein coming of power to what we have today.

1979 – Saddam Hussein succeeds Al-Bakr as president.

1980-1988- Iran-Iraq war.

1988- Iraq attacks Kurdish town of Halabjah with poison gas.

1981- Israel attacks nuclear research centre near Baghdad.

1990- Iraq invades Kuwait, massive US-led military campaign forces Iraq to withdraw February 1991- The Gulf War.

1991- Iraq subject to weapons inspection program.

1991- Kurdish uprising brutal suppressed. UN safe-haven established in northern Iraq to protect Kurds.

1992 – No-fly zones for Iraqi planes.

1993 – US launch missile attack on Iraqi Headquarters.

1995. UNSC Resolution 986 allows the partial resumption of Iraq’s oil export to buy food and medicine.

1995  Saddam Hussein wins rig elections.

The War started long before the USA/British invasion.

They claimed that the war would be cheap, perhaps even profitable, thanks to lower oil prices.costs:

The costs are, alas, all too evident. Nearly 5,000 dead Americans, another 20,000 or more permanently disabled, and $1 trillion in expenses. At least 100,000 Iraqis dead.

The financial costs, including the cost to service the debt, will likely total nearly $4 trillion.

Estimates of the number of Iraqis killed in the sectarian bloodletting that occurred after the collapse of Saddam’s regime exceed 130,000.

The group that emerged in direct response to our occupation is resurgent, not just inside Iraq but as a regional movement, rebuilding its networks in Syria, Jordan, and Libya.

The Iraqi Christian community has been decimated.

By going to war in Iraq, we set the stage for the emergence of an entirely new branch of al-Qaida—al-Qaida in Iraq.

The imperfect and fragile government that has emerged in Iraq was hardly worth the costs incurred.

If the country has salvaged anything constructive from this war, it seems to be a greater appreciation for war’s unpredictability and the limits of American power. Remains an open question.

Iraq is also, right now, the only authentic democracy in the Arab world — is quite true.

Large portions of Iraq have fallen to the murderous Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

Doesn’t matter whether Iraq stands on its own or collapses into a sea of blood and hate most people want to be masters of their own fate.

Goodwill towards America squandered throughout the world.

The benefits are fuzzy and fragile. Millions were displaced, many still have not returned to their homes.

A U.S. administration forever tarred by an unpopular war.

The burden of proof has shifted toward those making the case for war, in Iran, or Syria, or Yemen, or countless other places.

What will remain is that moment in history when a people who had been subjugated by a tyrant’s whims were no longer afraid of him.