also... the whole "we went in for oil" trope... uhhh, duh? why do you think we even have any strategic geopolitical interests in that region at all? why do you think we went in in 91? to help the poor downtrodden citizens of kuwait? cracka pls. the saudis requested the US to intervene. saddam was making them nervous, because his military was miles ahead of theirs and he was starting to act like an arab napolean. we had a strategic interest to intervene because the prospect of a major power gaining control of a significant portion of the oil-rich mid-east that was hostile to US interests was undesirable to us. so we were more than happy to oblige the saudi's and kuwaiti's request for assistance.
and had we went in and finished the job, dismantling the baath regime completely, the whole IS situation we're looking at now would've simply manifested years sooner. because iraq, like many other mid east nations, is an artificial entity carved out european imperialists. so it consists of several different feuding nationalities that, without an oppressive saddam-like tyrant to keep them in check through brutal murderous police-state policies, have a tendency to want to balkanize and split into feuding sectarian entities.
all that said, i do think the war was mismanaged. it could've been used to a much greater effect. the two major mistakes, as i see them, are:
a) failing to capitalize on the potential leverage it granted us. iirc, after saddam was invaded, ghaddafi openly came forward willing to surrender his own WMD's, out of fear of becoming the next saddam. similarly, for a brief period after the invasion, iran was willing to pursue greater diplomacy with the US out of a similar fear. bush rejected this attempt using the line of 'we don't negotiate with terrorists' or some dumb walker-texas-ranger brand redneck bull**** like that. as a result, a potential for diplomacy with one of the US's major rivals in the region was missed.
b) blacklisting the baath party, thus guaranteeing that many of the most capable and qualified iraqis were disqualified from participating in the new regime, thus undermining the effort to stabalize the country after the dismantling of saddam's regime.
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