The Intercept published an article titled "The architects of the Iraq war: Where are they now?" In his article, author John Schwarz lists 11 senior U.S. officials who bear the brunt of the 2003 war in Iraq.

Schwarz said that the men and women behind the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies 20 years ago have not paid any price in the past two decades for what they did then.

He explained that the list does not include any of the Iraqis who died in that war, explaining that one of the reasons for this is that the American media used to not care about the lives of foreigners, adding that this is also due to the Americans' lack of knowledge of the number of Iraqis killed.

Former US President George W. Bush speaking to US forces in Iraq in 2008 (Reuters)

Schwarz noted that various estimates of Iraqi deaths range from 151,3 to more than a million people, while the United States eventually spent at least $<> trillion on the war; the CIA allocated $<> billion just to make sure Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction. No funds have been allocated to determine the Iraqi death toll.

The site reviewed the names of some of the most important officials who were behind the US invasion of Iraq; and where they are now:

1- George W. Bush

The author describes former US President George W. Bush and current Russian President Vladimir Putin as "the greatest war criminals" of the 21st century, and adds, "If we lived in a better peaceful and prosperous world, the two would now share a cell in The Hague."

But Bush is currently busy giving lectures and keynote speeches at various forums and events, earning at least $100,<> per hour for his ideas.

Bush devotes much of his time to painting, enjoying friendships with the families of former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and smuggling candy to Michelle Obama on official occasions.

Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld (from right to left) are among the most prominent names of the Bush administration that created the invasion of Iraq (Reuters)

2- Dick Cheney

Cheney, who was Bush's vice president, uttered one of the grossest lies about Iraq while preparing to wage war on the Arab state.

In an August 2002 speech, he claimed that Hussein Kamel, the son-in-law of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, had revealed, after defecting from the Baghdad regime, that Iraq was trying to build nuclear weapons. But in fact, Kamel told CNN that Iraq does not possess any type of unconventional weapon.

Since leaving office, Cheney has spent his time hunting, endorsing Donald Trump as president in 2016 and not being prosecuted for torture.

For a period of time, he lived with an external mechanical heart to pump blood through his veins continuously.

Vice President Dick Cheney mediates U.S. troops in Iraq in 2005 (Reuters)

3- Donald Rumsfeld

On the afternoon of September 11, 2001, while the Pentagon was still preoccupied with attacks on the World Trade Towers in New York and the Defense Department, Secretary Rumsfeld was eagerly wondering whether the US could now attack Iraq.

Rumsfeld died in 2021, but before that he was spending part of his vacation at his summer home in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

Rumsfeld's home in Maryland was nicknamed "Mount Misery." According to the New York Times, the house belonged to a man named Edward Covey, who has long been known to have been actively torturing "slaves" to break their rebellion against white farmers.

4- Colin Powell

Perhaps one of the remarkable things about Secretary of State Colin Powell's 2003 presentation at United Nations Headquarters was that "he knew he was lying."

Powell died in 2021, but before that he was wallowing in wealth after retiring from politics. People always asked him about that appearance at the United Nations, and he told them that he had been horribly misled by individuals he never named.

In 2003, then-U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld signs a banner bearing the name Baghdad at the request of a U.S. soldier (Reuters)

5- John Bolton

John Bolton, then undersecretary of state, played a key role in the Bush administration's lies about weapons of mass destruction by firing Jose Boustani, head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Bustani committed a "major crime" when he decided to conduct inspections to determine whether Iraq actually possessed chemical weapons. Bolton was concerned that the organization would discover that Iraq did not even possess such weapons.

Bolton was rewarded for this by being appointed national security adviser by President Donald Trump later.

Former U.S. Under Secretary of State John Bolton (Reuters)

6- Condoleezza Rice

National Security Advisor Rice explained in January 2003 why the US should invade Iraq if there was any ambiguity, saying, "We don't want hard evidence to be just a cloud," which soon clears.

Later, the prestigious Hoover Institution at Stanford University decided to appoint her director of its Global Center for Business and Economics, because of its "commitment to the foundation's core mission of safeguarding peace, prosperity and freedom."

US forces topple Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad Square on April 2003, <> (Reuters)

7- David Froome

Fromm served as a speechwriter in the Bush White House. He is best known for coining the phrase "axis of evil" of Iraq, Iran and North Korea, which was included in his 2002 State of the Union address.

After leaving the White House, Fromm co-wrote the book The End of Evil: How to Win the War on Terror.

At the end of the book, Fromm concluded that "there is compelling evidence that Saddam had extensive chemical and biological weapons programs."

Froome was rewarded for this by appointing him as a writer on its editorial board.

8. Jeffrey Goldberg

Goldberg was one of the most influential non-U.S. proponents of the invasion of Iraq while writing for The New Yorker.

His writings were inducted into the Congressional Register during deliberations on granting the administration a mandate to use military force in the fall of 2002.

Goldberg is currently editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.

Former US President George W. Bush announcing the end of major operations in Iraq in May 2003 (Reuters)

9- Joe Biden

Biden was a Democratic senator from Delaware in the run-up to the war and chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee.

At the time, Biden was conducting hearings, calling for an invasion as he was one of the most important Democratic voices in favor of him.

Biden continues to play a prominent role in U.S. politics by virtue of his tenure as president.

10- David Brooks

Schwarz said that Brooks was a key supporter of the war on Iraq, contributing an article to the Weekly Standard immediately after the war began, "The Collapse of Dream Palaces."

He accused opponents of the war of being "unable to achieve enough emotional separation to see the world as it really is."

11- Judith Miller

An American journalist who was a prominent advocate of the war on Iraq, and contributed several articles in which she talks about the danger of weapons of mass destruction that she claimed Iraq possessed.

Schwarz said one of her funniest articles was one titled "Illicit weapons preserved until the eve of war."