"Bush's religious certitude and his singular determination became serious problems. In 2001 he scuttled the Clinton administration's efforts to bring a nonnuclear North Korea back into the family of nations, and two years later led the United States into an unwarranted war with Iraq. Saddam Hussein may have been a ruthless dictator, but he kept the lid on violent extremists and was no threat to the United States. Iraq was not implicated in the events of 9/11, and al Qaeda had no presence in the country. There was also no ISIS under Saddam and there were no weapons of mass destruction. By attacking Iraq and overthrowing Saddam Hussein the United States upset the delicate equilibrium between the Shiites and the Sunnis that existed in the Middle East. The casualties and the cost- estimated in excess of $3 trillion- have been disastrous. But even worse is the continued instability of the region. Bush wanted to bring democracy to Iraq. That was naïve given the deep sectarian, ethnic, and tribal fissures that existed. What he achieved was to create the conditions for the continuing insurrection that is led today by ISIS fundamentalists. Whether George W. Bush was the worst president in American history will be long debated, but his decision to invade Iraq is easily the worst foreign policy decision ever made by an American president."