Of course he was not lying. First off, that is a value judgement, not an absolute fact. Iraq was relatively stable, but the Iraqis elected a guy who was vindictive against the Sunnis. The US could not nullify the election or depose him without causing serious problems.
The First Iraq War was caused by Saddam invading Kuwait. This was caused by Olebush telling his ambassador that "the US does not take a position on the borders between Middle Eastern nations". The Kuwaitis were using horizontal drilling to pup out oil from under Iraq's border. The Iraqis did not have the technology to do the same thing to Kuwait, and Saddam though that he had been given the go-ahead.
And that caused the first Iraq War. It was planned. It was largely carried out by well-paid contractors and financed by other countries., The US government made a profit on that war, and American companies, like Halliburton, Brown & Root, Fluor made billions.
Of course, we did lose a number of soldiers, but they knew the job was dangerous when they took it. You know, like Super Chicken.
Olebush was both a former CIA director and fond of dirty tricks and a servant of Big Oil.
The Second Iraq War was caused by the imperfect ending of the First. Both were major and deliberate malfeasance by the Bushes.
