Dont' bother, for some history begins when they awake in the morning!
After 9/11, Bush could not fight a war with the Islamic cults with Saddam and Sons over his shoulder. (if not for the deposing of Saddam, his goons would be in Afganastan right now, killing us)
As for the Iraqi population, I saw no refugees before the war, during the intitial war, and I see none leaving now.
I would say that 25 million Iraqi souls now have a chance at a civilized society.
And millions of other Islamics in the ME and their children can see that the way of suicide, murdering innocent infidels, is in the past, and no longer "fruitful" for them as a society.
We knew about the chemicals during the Iran/Iraq war. We backed Iraq so we looked the other way. The Bush administration has publicly stated that the yellow cake story was inaccurate. The Brits are sticking with the story but I have to take the word of our administration. No evidence has ever been presented on "weapons convoys to Syria". Our government has never made that allegation and if we knew it (saw it) we would have stopped it. As for the nuc weapons program, our investigators found that Iraq possessed no nuclear material. So to answer your question Chief, yes I am up to date with reality, as up to date as our government investigations have revealed.