The way things have turned out in Iraq, those reading the statistics must be wondering as to how various countries got sucked into a war that nobody wanted, and resulting in a civil war that will take a genius to resolve.

To get to the truth of the matter we must retrace our steps back to the days of the Iran - Iraq war that initially revolved around some tiny disputed islands and other small pieces of territory.

Iraq was supplied with massive amounts of modern weaponry and other supplies by the US and European countries, some of which could have been and were turned into chemical weapons.

The war ended in a stalemate with neither side gaining anything, both sides suffering massive casualties and the collective reputations of Iraqi donor countries looking very suspect and in tatters.

Subsequently, Iraq made the mistake of invading Kuwait only to be thrown out a few months later by a UN-backed multinational force.

Iraq remained more or less intact following the UN decision to call a halt to proceedings despite the US wish to invade into Iraq all the way to Baghdad, a decision that the then US President George Bush and some of his then rising neocon stars was very unhappy with, subsequently prompting a campaign of interference, UN sanctions and other measures against Iraq.

The planning for the second war against Iraq began immediately upon the first cease-fire being signed with this planning continuing by Republican neocons more or less throughout the Clinton presidency.

The 9/11 tragedies in New York and Washington came and went and it was only a matter of time before George W Bush and his extremist hangers-on blamed Iraq for everything, including 'bad hair days'.

It was said by the US administration that Iraq had regular contact with Osama Bin Laden. The fact is that there was one contact between Osama Bin Laden and Iraqi official and that meeting was unsuccessful.

Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Fact is that Iraq did not have such weapons and they were never found.

Indeed, when people within the Pentagon and the CIA pointed out that the w.m.d allegations were false, they were either ignored or even demoted. 

Even in the UK and Australia, those in the know raised very serious doubts about the w.m.d allegations. Their Governments ignored them just as they were in the US.

It seemed that Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice and company wanted a war in Iraq as a bit of revenge and nothing, not even the truth, was going to stop them.

The US presentation to the UN Security Council in order to get support for an invasion was based on lies, misinformation, old and doctored pictures, lapsed intelligence and other matters that simply were not factual. 

The UN did not support an invasion but the US, the UK and Australia went ahead regardless, invading Iraq in breach of international law, breaching international conventions, breaching the Geneva Convention and despite the wishes of their majority of their own populations.

The end result thus far is that over 3000 US military have died, thousands of Iraqis have been killed or murdered, the new Iraqi Government is a farce, the new Iraqi military and Police operate in accordance to factional loyalties and any credibility that the US, the UK and Australia might have had once in the Middle East is no longer. And all this because of the misinformation, lies and the get-even policies of a misguided group of people that should have known better than to lie their way into a war that had no end.

What next might you ask? There are solutions that will settle down the situation in Iraq but as I said in my opening statement, it will take a genius to get a lasting result.