The Ultimate Proof Iraq Was a Mistake: It Gave Us Trump

Twenty years after the United States invaded Iraq, it is worth asking whether it was the right thing to do. As someone who was passively in favor of it (I was a loyal conservative Republican, but I wasn’t a writer back then), I’m now solidly in the “no” camp for one reason: The once (and future?) presidency of Donald Trump.

I realize this sounds both partisan and crazy. Instead of questioning if it was the right thing to do, shouldn’t the question be, “Did Saddam Hussein need to be toppled?” Shouldn’t the question be, “Did Saddam have weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)—or the ability to quickly reconstitute them?” Shouldn’t the question be, “Were the Iraqi people better off being liberated from this monster?” Shouldn’t the question be, “Is our geopolitical situation more secure?”

If we evaluated the invasion using those criteria, it could conceivably be considered the right decision—even in light of the dysfunctional manner in which it played out (ultimately requiring a troop surge in 2007 to provide security and prevent a humiliating withdrawal).

Read more at The Daily Beast.