The United Sates began bombing Bagdad, Iraq on March 20, 2003 marking the start of the armed conflict known as Operation Iraqi Freedom. The war began in direct response to the September 11, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the newly found War on Terror. President George W. Bush declared the War on Terror after the 9/11 attacks in effort to block terrorist groups worldwide. The United Sates (US) first invaded Afghanistan as part of the War on Terror. The armed conflict Operation Enduring Freedom was launched October 7, 2001 in efforts to disrupt terrorist activity in Afghanistan. With the United States already at war with Afghanistan, President Bush saw the War with Iraq as essential in keeping Americans safe and protecting the United States from any future terror attacks. With Saddam Hussein's reputation as a brutal dictator in Iraq, evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and anger in the country still fresh from the 9/11 terrorist attacks the American people were quick to accept the idea of another war. President Bush made several mistakes in the planning and handling of the Iraq War causing it to be a failure. President Bush did not plan the War in a way for it to be successful. First, by making promises about the war they did not intend to keep, not waiting for United Nations (UN) approval, and not being honest to the American people about Hussein's ties to terror. .
The American People were promised a swift and small American war with Iraq. Then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told the American people military action in Iraq would be swift and not require a full U.S mobilization.1 While speaking in Italy in hopes to gain support for the War Donald Rumsfeld said the war could last only six days or six weeks and he highly doubted the war could last six months. President Bush also tried to convince the American people the war was going to be quick.
