Even if the outcome is a stable democratic Iraq, the war was still a costly, illegal, ideologically-driven mistake  The cost of the Iraq war has been astonishing both in the lives and treasure spent and the resentment and chaos stored up for the future. Even if the result had been Switzerland on Sinai, it would still not have been worth it. There have been more than 100,000 Iraqi deaths [i] . It has been the most expensive US war other than WWII in constant 2011 dollars, costing more than $400 billion more than Vietnam, [ii] and what is left is a failed state in the making.  The war was poorly conceived, recklessly enacted and devastatingly badly concluded. The secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld wanted the war fought “on the cheap” using a much smaller force than the pentagon or independent analysts thought was necessary. [iii] With the allies now withdrawing from Iraq the world’s best hope is that the US and its allies will be sufficiently cowed by public opinion as to never try such folly again. That, perhaps, would be a benefit.  [i] Iraq Body Count  [ii] Daggett, Stephen, ‘Costs of Major U.S. Wars’, Congressional Research Service, 29 June 2010  [iii] Weinraub, Bernard, and Shanker, Thom, ‘A NATION AT WAR: UNDER FIRE; Rumsfeld’s Design for War Criticized on the Battlefield’, The New York Times, 1 April 2003