America Is Leaving Iraq - Was It Worth It? | A Navy SEAL Who Was There

About this video

Ritland discusses two major news stories: a Fly Dubai flight where a pilot allegedly stabbed and attempted to hijack the plane, and the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq after 23 years and $1.7 trillion spent. He reflects on his own combat experience in Iraq, questioning whether the war was worth the cost in American and civilian lives, and argues that the U.S. invasion created a power vacuum that emboldened Iran and triggered a global refugee crisis.

Key takeaways

• Ritland recounts witnessing his mother cry while watching a hijacking on TV in the mid-1980s involving a U.S. Navy diver, and reflects on how aviation remains a target for terrorism decades later
• Ritland argues the Iraq War created two major global consequences: a power vacuum that emboldened Iranian state-sponsored terrorism (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis) and a refugee crisis that changed countries worldwide
• Ritland questions the value of the Iraq War, noting that after $1.7 trillion and thousands of American lives lost, Iraq remains unstable and threatened by militants, with no clear path forward

Episode details: published October 1, 2026 · 24.4K views · 21:11 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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