Ten years ago on March 19, 2003, the United States sent troops to invade Iraq, with the intent of disarming Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

At the time the majority of Americans thought we were doing what was necessary to preserve our country. Just a few years earlier insurgents took planes and crashed them into some of our most recognizable landmarks.

The public was told that now the insurgents were hiding in Iraq and they had weapons that could do considerable harm to America and our way of life. It was our duty as the world power house to keep things copacetic.

During the time from March 2003 until December 2011 we sent troops to Iraq. With more than 1.5 million boots hitting the sand, just under 4,500 of those died and never made the trip back.  The funding was close $820 billion of tax dollars.  When we started deploying troops to Iraq the national debt was around $6.7 trillion.  By the end of the war it had more than doubled in size to over $14.7 trillion.

And for what?

Let me preface this with this, I respect what the military does for the population. I enjoy the feeling of being safe due to the fact we have a military as powerful as we do. But as one of the last set of Marine boots to hit the Iraqi dirt, it was a war that never should have been.

Granted, we got rid of Saddam Hussein, a man who was doing unspeakable things like mass murdering his own people. Once he was gone we stayed and kept using American bodies and dollars to help.

We searched and never found any WMDs. The Iraqi government had no ties to Al Qaeda. In hindsight Iraq was just another country with a tyrannical leader in charge.  If the government, at the time, had told the population that the reason for the invasion was to oust Hussein for crimes against humanity it may have been an easier pill to swallow. But they did not.

During the time of the Iraq War, America was also deploying troops, though in smaller numbers, to Afghanistan. Fighting wars in two different countries requires a larger number of personnel. A larger personnel means a larger budget and more tax dollars.

The more people who join the military means only one thing: the more who will eventually get out. After someone serves six years all of the benefits that they have accumulated, mainly educational, can be transferred to someone else like spouses or children.

Since 2009 $18 billion has been spent just to keep the Chapter 33 G.I. Bill, better known as the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill, going. The bill pays full tuition to most schools, gives extra money to help pay bills, and kicks in more to help with books and other expenses, like parking. This comes to no charge to the vet but not the taxpayer.

That explains for some of the increase in debt but not all of it. With combat units in multiple places the need for assets rises. The need for more tanks, aircraft and land vehicles goes up. The need for private vehicles also comes up. Most troops don’t get the luxury of riding in a nice new truck while deployed but rest assured the higher you are ranked the more likely that there is a relatively new F-150 for you to ride around in.

Those are some of the numerous long-term effects on America. But there are two sides to a war, and Iraq hasn’t changed since the United States played World Police on them.

On the 10th anniversary of the invasion there were at least a dozen car and suicide bombers that killed at least 60 people in the capital of Baghdad. The main targets of the bombings were not government officials or military personal. The main targets were civilians.

Throughout the decade there have been almost 116,00 deaths to Iraqi citizens not part of the conflict, showing that we did no more to protect the population from slaughter than the regime before the invasion.

Iraq is still torn between different political views and powers. There is still a complaint from its citizens that the man in charge, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, isn’t sharing his power as was promised. There are rumors of Maliki trying to gain control of the armies and forcing his will onto the nation like his predecessor.

Today Iraq seems to be regressing instead of progressing like we promised when we invaded its cities. It is still operating as it did before America tried to force its ideals upon it.

The invasion now looks like a complete and utter failure. America sacrificed too many men and women for fabricated propaganda. America spent too many tax dollars on problems that were not our own.

Iraq is no better off a decade after the debacle of American influence. We as a country have seen nothing but the national debt rise along with the body count of our service men and women. We can not get those dollars back or the last 10 years back but more importantly, we can never get those people back.