Was the Iraq War a success?

The war in Iraq was a success in my eyes despite the mislead goals. Although the initial reason the US intervened into Iraq was due to a nuclear weapon scare, the direction it took ended up being quite successful in the end. First, we killed Saddam Hussein and his intended successors, we killed many prominent leaders of Al Qaeda, and thus stopped suppressed uncountable future acts of violence. We didn’t find nuclear weapons, but we certainty delayed and unfocused their efforts as far as producing the technology used for nuclear proliferation. Eight years can make a huge difference to delay the nuclear effort and transition the world before such a phenomenon happens. The Iraq war also created a new democratic state that benefits both Iraq, and the United States. Iraq has made their own constitution, no longer has to face a cruel leader, held free elections for the first time ever, and now serves as yet another step towards world democracy or world domination by the United States. The fact that the US didn't find nuclear weapons is a great thing for the troops to be able to focus on structuring the population into a democracy and overthrow the corrupt leaders that could have potentially attacked other places around the world. Overall, the Iraq war was an overwhelming success that the best turn out United States could have asked for.