Abstract The United States invasion of Iraq in 2003 came at a time when the war on terrorism was at its peak. After the events of the September 11, 2001, the Bush Administration vowed to combat all acts of terror within and outside U.S borders. While this initiative was highly applauded by the international community and especially the member countries which had suffered huge humanitarian losses in the hands of terror suspects, the plan to ouster Saddam Hussein from power as part of curbing the spread of terrorism was not received kindly from some quarters. The historical account of the authoritarian rule of Saddam Hussein in the run up to the 2003 attack by United States has been discussed in this essay. Furthermore, the real impacts of the war as occasioned by U.S foreign policy on Iraq have been deliberated in detail. The unipolar nature of the 2003 attack on Iraq has also been used as the springboard in dissecting the role played by United Nations Security Council before and during the attack. While the outcome of the war was visibly felt far and wide, the essay attempts to critically evaluate how Americans and the people of Iraq were negatively impacted by the unstable relations between the two countries. Finally, the justification of the war as well as its legitimacy has been incorporated in this theoretical research study. Background and synopsis of poor rule in Iraq Iraq has faced challenges like the long history of authoritarian rule and the crushing of democracy, the rivalry between Sunni and Shia, separatist claims of the Kurds and the demands of the Turkmen coupled with foreign interference like in the case of 2003 invasion by United States and its allies. The contemporary history of Iraq commenced immediately after the breakup of the old Ottoman Empire. In the campaigns against the Central powers the British military invaded Iraq and was initially defeated by Turkey. Thereafter, the British troupes regrouped and later captured Baghdad. Later, an agreement was signed by the British and French that led to the carving out of Iraq from Ottoman Empire. The agreement became conclusive in May 1916. In 1920, the carved out territory came under the control of the British with the name “State of Iraq” (Wollack, 2010, p.22). When the British established the Hashemite monarchy in the new territory it did not take into consideration the politics of different religious as well as ethnic groups. This offered a chance for the Kurds and the Shiites to begin fighting for independence. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom initially established two regions which were Basra region and Baghdad region, but later the two were merged. In 1932, Britain granted Iraq independence; however, the British still hung on to the armed forces bases and also the privileges of transfer for the British military powers. There were subsequent wars and conflicts in Iraq, even after independence had been granted. The 1941 coup d’état saw the ousting from power of Abd al-llah who was the president at that time. The military wing soon took over the custody of the country. The Hashemite monarchy which was brought back thereafter operated up and until 1958. Another coup took place and the monarchy was sent packing by the Iraqi troops (Wollack, 2010, p.23). A series of forceful power take ove