I'd still say the Iraq War was most costly and fatal mistake in the 21st Century.
Hard to compare, admittedly.
Hard to compare, admittedly.
If that's the case it'll just slowly outscale any singular event like the Iraq War over multiple human generations of deaths and damage.
I'm all for complaining about US tactics, but it's 100% incorrect to try and claim that the Iraq War was "worse" than COVID-19.
Also almost all of the violence post war should be somewhat attributable to the invasion; we broke the basket to secure oil rights (and some argue to also keep the petrodollar as the world reserve currency)
The cost was way more than the cherry-picked stats you present
> "An estimated 151,000 to 1,033,000 Iraqis died in the first three to five years of conflict."
Then that famous video of "Madeleine Albright Saying Iraqi Kids' Deaths 'Worth It'" talked about half million children.
https://www.newsweek.com/watch-madeleine-albright-saying-ira...
In "costly and fatal", I also include that the Iraq War arguably marks the end of the US as the world's only superpower. Both in terms of cost and moral status, it was a huge abdication of status.