Bush and his hardline advisers believed that only force or “regime change” would stop these “rogue” states’ terrorism or their programs to acquire “weapons of mass destruction.” So, in March 2003, the United States invaded Iraq, resulting in a state of near-constant civil war for over a decade; an ineffectual central government in Baghdad; and now the rise of the Islamic State.
布什及其强硬派顾问认为只有武力或“政权更迭”才能阻止这些“流氓”国家的恐怖主义及其获取“大规模杀伤性武器”的计划。因此，2003年3月，美国入侵伊拉克，造成了长达十余年的持续内战；无效的巴格达中央政府和现在伊斯兰国的崛起。