Answer 1
It did not go longer that expected. Our government is now waging continuous wars.
Answer 2
Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld expected the war to end within a few weeks of the initial invasion. They held the entirely unreasonable expectation that Iraqis would embrace the American soldiers as their saviors for overthrowing Saddam Hussein and would immediately come together in a perfect American-style democracy. As would be expected by anyone who knows anything about the Middle East, the Iraqis saw the American soldiers as an occupying and colonialist force. Numerous paramilitary cells of different Iraqi warriors rose up to resist the American soldiers prolonging the conflict for nearly eight more years. Since US withdrawal in 2011, the insurgency has continued and the Iraqi National Government has expended numerous resources to attempt to quell it.
The Bush Administration made the mistake of using intelligence to justify decisions already made.
There is no definitive answer to this - only theories. There was the claim that Iraq was building weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration later abandoned that claim, and didn't offer anything in its place.
Bush sr. went to war with iraq when Saddam Hussein and the Iraqis invaded Kuwait in 1990.
No. George W. Bush had an AUMF for the Iraq War, which is a form of congressional authorization for war.
Bush, Obama, and Old and moldy W. Bush :(
The Bush Administration made the mistake of using intelligence to justify decisions already made.
The Bush Administration made the mistake of using intelligence to justify decisions already made.
The Bush administration believed that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction
By claiming Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, making it a threat to national security
The invasion of Iraq was declared "Mission Accomplished"
It was alleged that Iraq was creating weapons of mass destruction and that invasion was the only way to halt production.
To prop up their slumping popularity with the US voting public.
Professor Pillar's key criticism of the Bush administration during the preparation for the war in Iraq is that intelligence played a very small role in policy decisions. Furthermore, what intelligence was used was cherry-picked and misconstrued.
The Bush administration raided and bombed Iraq beginning the war. The 19 men on the planes were not from Iraq, but all were Saudi Arabians.
Professor Pillar's key criticism of the Bush administration during the preparation for the war in Iraq is that intelligence played a very small role in policy decisions. Furthermore, what intelligence was used was cherry-picked and misconstrued.
Professor Pillar's key criticism of the Bush administration during the preparation for the war in Iraq is that intelligence played a very small role in policy decisions. Furthermore, what intelligence was used was cherry-picked and misconstrued.
Professor Pillar's key criticism of the Bush administration during the preparation for the war in Iraq is that intelligence played a very small role in policy decisions. Furthermore, what intelligence was used was cherry-picked and misconstrued.