But, I'm going to say right here that going into Iraq was a very good thing.
What made it the disaster it became was electing Barack Obama, pulling out under the guise of disagreeing with the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) Without military protection, those who favored the USA... and Christians became prey.
And let's not even talk about the billions he later gave to Iran, who has since gained influence in the region.
Bolton was 100% right on Iraq.
But The Manchurian, (who incidentally 'executed' the "Libyan Model"), with Hillary's help, had other plans.
Trump’s foreign policy is not clear.
+1
I'm not sure what you mean by "the guise of disagreeing with the Status of Forces Agreement," either. Obama removed the U.S. troops from Iraq the end of 2011 under the explicit terms of the SOFA that had been signed by George W. Bush in November 2008.
The Christians didn't become "prey" because the U.S. troops left. They became prey because the U.S. went to Iraq and toppled a government that actually protected them from radical Muslims.
The Iranians made a move on post Saddam Iraq long before the kenyan arrived on the scene. And for that you can thank Bush.
Most of the military and people who ran Iraq were Sunni and the countries population is majority Shia and aligned with Iran
The only thing keeping the Sunni military and managerial class safe from Shia led purges and worse was the United States military presence.
Once our military left the country, the Sunnis knew that the Iranian influenced Shia proxies would be at their throats
This led many Iraqi Sunni officers to conclude that bad as al Qaeda had been in Iraq, they were preferable to an Shia regime that was a puppet of Iran's mullahs
The Iraqi military leadership essentially handed Iraq and all of the American military equipment they were armed with to al Qaeda ( ISIS) without putting up much of a fight and often simply abandoned their troops ( who were often Shia) in the field
Obama knew exactly what he was doing when he exited Iraq
Bolton was right on Iraq. I have no doubt Saddam had WMD’s. The Russians gave us a bloody nose in spiriting the majority away. I think we were betrayed by the UN over this. It’s just that the aftermath was probably inevitable. Saddam was too dangerous to leave in power but getting rid of him was much more painful than most expected. Simply because doing something causes pain later doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have been done.