@fred
I don’t know whether Iraq had WMDs prior to US invasion, and the whole story about not wanting to confront Russia seems extremely far-fetched. However, what’s clear is that WMDs were only a pretense and the war was started undeniably about oil. That’s not automatically a bad thing. However, had it been better conducted, it might have been a success, where US could have gained more oil resources in its zone of control, thus increasing its market stability and securing oil prices, while also establishing the first democracy in the region and being seen as liberators. Instead, we have what we have.