A major lesson we should have learned from the GWOT, especially the Iraq war, is how dangerous it is to manipulate intelligence in order to justify a war. In Iraq, we claimed that Saddam had WMD & that he was supporting Al-Qaeda. As we would later learn, neither was true & Saddam was not a threat to us. He was, ironically, a threat to Iran. Once we invaded Iraq, we found no WMD— & our presence instead served as a lightning rod for Al-Qaeda fighters to flood Iraq and kill American soldiers. This launched the U.S. into the escalation trap: believing we had to stay in Iraq to “fix it.” It cost us the lives of nearly 5,000 American troops, countless casualties that continue to devastate the veteran population to this day, & over $3 trillion. Despite knowing all of this, today we’re seeing the same claims used to justify our war with Iran—threats of WMD & warnings of Iranian-backed terrorists poised to attack us—and once again we launched a war that will likely end up a self-fulfilling prophecy of the manipulated intelligence. Not only have our actions demonstrated to the Iranians that obtaining a nuclear weapon is a form of deterrence for them, this war will likely invite blowback terrorism here on American soil. We have the opportunity to use the evidence from our recent history to inform our next move and walk away now, instead of doubling down to spiral ourselves into yet another aimless and bloody war under the guise of “fixing” our mistakes. We should take it.