US Is Really Shocked with This Decision: Is It the End of Their Presence in Middle East?
US Is Really Shocked with This Decision: Is It the End of Their Presence in Middle East?
Fastepo: 9-22-2024
The human cost of the U.S. involvement in Iraq has been staggering. Between 2003 and 2011, around 4,487 American soldiers were killed, and approximately 31,900 were wounded, many with life-changing injuries.
On the Iraqi side, estimates of civilian casualties vary significantly, but figures suggest between 200,000 and 300,000 civilians died during the conflict, with total deaths—including combatants—ranging between 500,000 and over a million.
The Iraq Body Count project, which tracks civilian deaths, estimated between 183,000 and 210,000 civilian fatalities as of 2019. The financial burden of the Iraq War is similarly immense, with estimates placing the total cost at between $1.7 trillion and $3 trillion.
When long-term costs, such as veterans' care and war-related debt, are included, some estimates push this figure as high as $6 trillion—far exceeding early projections of $50 billion to $60 billion.
In Iraq, the conflict also devastated infrastructure, including the healthcare system, which saw over half of the country's doctors flee. Despite the U.S. spending $60 billion on reconstruction, these efforts largely failed to rebuild essential infrastructure, exacerbating the instability and suffering felt by Iraq's population.
Recently, the Iraqi government has asked the US to leave the country.
The planned withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, slated for 2024 to 2026, signals the end of a protracted engagement marked by setbacks and miscalculations. This departure, structured in two phases, highlights the challenges the U.S. has faced in maintaining a stable foothold in a nation it once invaded with overwhelming force.
The drawdown, particularly after 2024, will mark the closing chapter of U.S. military involvement, which began with the 2003 invasion aimed at toppling Saddam Hussein under the premise of dismantling weapons of mass destruction—an assertion later proven false.
At the height of the Iraq War in 2007, U.S. troop levels peaked at over 170,000, struggling to contain a civil war and insurgency sparked by the invasion. A surge in forces temporarily reduced violence but failed to bring lasting peace or stability.
Although the U.S. officially withdrew in 2011, the rise of ISIS in 2014 prompted a return under Operation Inherent Resolve, aimed at curbing the extremist group. However, this intervention further exposed the limitations of American military power, as U.S. forces found themselves navigating an increasingly hostile environment.
The U.S. appears determined to maintain its presence in Iraq and the broader Middle East.
Washington is actively pursuing a new agreement with Iraq that would extend the stationing of American troops, even though Baghdad has declared that the mission to defeat ISIS has been accomplished.
U.S. officials are currently in talks with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani's government to establish a broader bilateral partnership, with plans to announce the agreement as early as next week, according to two senior officials involved in the discussions.
This new agreement would replace the U.S.-led international coalition that has operated in Iraq since 2014.