The Second Gulf War (Iraq war) can be defended

Good luck I 100 percent disagree with my opponent that"our main job as a compassionate society is to end suffering". I'm not sure if my opponent lives in the US,(I suspect he/she doesn't) but one of the values we hold dear is our individualism. We are an individualistic society, not a collective society. We can and should put our self interest above all others. If your self interest is to end suffering then of course that's righteous, but if I don't want to be involved with it, that's too bad (no soup for you). Nobody can convince me that I'm a bad person because I put myself and my family above all others. I have yet to be convinced that my sole purpose on this earth is to live for the benefit of others. If the people of Iraq, Korea, Cambodia, or any other place, can't fight for and gain freedom on their own, who says they deserve it? If we are expected to have to jump every time someone needs defending, how can we consider ourselves free? Personally, I value my freedom more than helping others. Our only objective in the middle-east is to defend Saudi Arabia, that's it. And when our need for oil evaporates, we will have no purpose being there at all. My opponent tries painting a picture of Iraq as a modern democratic "feel good" story. That's interesting, because people in Iraq are leaving in droves. He/she has failed to prove to me that the people of Iraq are better off. Iraq is now like a terrorism "rave". Just going to the market can be a deadly chore. ISIS forces young boys to fight for them, and forces young girls to be slaves for them. . https://www.theatlantic.com.... . https://www.datagraver.com.... In 2011 (the year my opponent says the war ended), terrorism has sky rocketed, and continues to do so. It's sort of ironic that some of the countries that aided in the second Iraq war, are now barring Iraqi refugees from entering their countries. How's that for "compassion"? My opponent points to a poll that was taken before the war as proof that the Iraqi people are happy about the war, I wonder what that poll would look like if it were taken today? Perhaps less people are dying, but has their quality of life actually improved? Perhaps, if we ourselves lived in those circumstances, we could have a valid opinion on that, but we don't. My opponents assertion that the lives of the Iraqi people have improved, is only speculation. In all likelihood though, it is outright wrong to believe that. If you lived every moment of your life in fear of dying, or having to give up your children to ISIS, or economic failure, or a breakdown of the education system, or a breakdown of the effectiveness of the government and the authorities, that's not what I call a good life. My opponents argument has shifted slightly since the beginning, where he claimed that the US involvement in Iran in the fiftees, and the US aiding Iraq in the eighties were irrelevant to this argument, then he/she conceded that they were linked events, but interventions are a basis by basis treatment. I think my opponent might have failed to realize that it was and always has been our interventionism that has exacerbated the situation. If we had only kept our promise to defend Saudi Arabia, and not gotten involved in Iran, or Iraq, we could have saved some face. Every "action" that we take in those countries seems to guarantee the need for further "action". Perhaps some day we will see the pattern and realize that were not actually helping anybody but those who profit off of war, and my opponent doesn't deny that war profits were and are a factor. We have needlessly made enemies with people who had nothing to do with us before this mess. ISIS and Al-Qaida are still huge threats to the people of Iraq and Europe and the US. These groups, were created as a direct result of American involvement in Iraq. Now, we must cross into other countries to chase them down, before they can attack us. It has become a spiralling quagmire that continually needs more action (that's good for munitions manufacturers). My opponent claims the first Iraq war was a success. Why then was there a need for a second Iraq war? Maybe it's because the first Iraq war was not a success. As it's shaping out now, it's hard to think the second Iraq war was a success. My opponent doesn't deny that he/she can't guarantee that further military action will not be needed in Iraq. These don't sound like success stories, unless of course, you are a munitions manufacturer. My opponents attitude that war for hire is okay as long as we're stopping suffering, doesn't fly with me. My opponents "WMD" argument hinges on the fact that Iraq has used chemical weapons in the past. Not that they may have had some before the second Iraq war, because they didn't, and not that they were building nukes, no. Just because they used them in the past, was the only reason for my opponents justification. My opponent failed to prove that Iraq had any weapons stockpiles in 2003. I've shown time and time again that there was no processing plants to create any WMD, and certainly no nuclear weapons program. This point was central to my opponents argument, and all he/she could come up with was outdated, erroneous, unreliable documents that have absolutely been discredited. If they haven't been discredited, why then were no weapons ever found? If good ol Georgie W had told me that we had to go to war with Iraq simply because they kicked out nuclear weapons inspectors, I would have told him to pound so much sand. But that's all my opponent has for his/her WMD argument. As if to say, well since they kicked out weapons inspectors, they must have WMD. That is a very flimsy case for war. It's certainly worth noting that every link my opponent posted was dated before 2005. The "evidence"he/she was showing us, was seriously outdated. The links I posted didn't just say that they didn't find nuclear weapons, it said they didn't find any processing plants for any WMD. The inspectors that went in after the initial combat had ended, had to admit that there was not nearly enough material found that would warrant a war. Thank You.