The war in Iraq, which began in 2003 and lasted until 2011, has in a certain sense begun again. This means that in the last thirteen years American troops have been involved in all but three operations in Iraq. The cost of the Iraq War has skyrocketed into the trillions, and the loss of life into the thousands, and the effects of the Iraq War will be felt for a long time. Entering Iraq caused Americans to set a precedent regarding our politics and moral standing, largely determining our future efforts and policies toward foreign nations. The war has affected us negatively, causing a previously relatively stable region to explode into chaos and giving rise to new grievances against us. This seriously damages our ability to achieve economic trade with Muslim countries and the Middle East. The Iraq War was a war that should never have started. On September 11, 2001, America was attacked by the terrorist group Al Qaeda, which eventually led to the Iraq War. This attack was perpetrated under the command of Osama Bin Laden, who was stationed in Afghanistan at the time. Based on very limited and highly scrutinized evidence of the existence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Iraq was invaded. This was the main reason we went into combat in Iraq in 2003, Jason Zengerle in his “Burden of Proof” has a quote that shows the government recognizes this, “White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said: “ We have great confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction.” (Zengerle) This fact also reflects negatively on the entire operation since the exact reason why they said we invaded Iraq turned out to be wrong. David Fisher and Nigel Biggar in their piece “Was Iraq an Unjust War? A debate on the war in Iraq and reflections on Libya” they say: Now we know from... half the newspaper... that people have died in Iraq in these 8 years, which means that more people have died. by the violence caused by the war there, violence that didn't exist before until the United States arrived. It is important to look critically at the war in Iraq. However, it is even more important to establish that the Iraq War was an unjust war and a war we should not have fought. It bears a striking resemblance to the Vietnam War, and the fact that we have been so easily dragged into another conflict where no real solution can be found says a lot about the American people. But this doesn't say much good about us. The war in Iraq only fuels the fire of terrorist organizations against the United States. They don't do what they do simply because they "hate us", they hold very real grudges and ultimately, like us, solve their problems with violence instead of diplomacy.