Mustafa Abed, 15, has been to the United States repeatedly for surgery to address severe injuries he suffered as a toddler when the U.S. forces shelled the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004. His most recent visit, to RiverBend Medical Center in Springfield this summer, was to address complications from the initial injuries resulted in one leg being amputated at the hip.

Mustafa's remarkable strength and persistence through repeated medical procedures, including removal of a kidney and the fitting of a prosthetic leg, is inspiring.

But he's a tragic reminder of a war whose purpose remains uncertain even today. The Iraq War, waged by the United States and a group of allies against Iraq and its dictator, Saddam Hussein, lasted from 2003 to 2010, followed by a long insurgency and civil war.

The human cost of that war is unknown, and never likely to be known. But it will be with us for decades.

Close to 5,000 U.S. military personnel were killed in the war, and another 30,000-plus were wounded. Some observers say the number of U.S. wounded is far higher, if one counts trauma and post-traumatic stress. The military fatalities and injuries of U.S. allies have similarly been carefully tallied.

But the number of Iraqi deaths and injuries has never been established, although sources agree they were high. Total deaths in the conflict have been estimated at anywhere from about 250,000 to 450,000 or more, most of them civilian. It's been so difficult to estimate civilian deaths that few have even attempted to measure the number of civilians who were injured, like Mustafa.

What was the purpose of the Iraq War? President George W. Bush and his supporters claimed Saddam had backed 9/11 perpetrator al Qaeda and possessed "weapons of mass destruction," two assertions that were never proven. The war's supporters said Saddam was a murderer who need to be disposed of. Critics said the claims about al Qaeda and WMDs were fabrications and the war was baseless.

Mustafa and many others will be paying the price the rest of their lives.