Why does the u. s. presence in Iraq pose an ethical dilemma?

It is an ethical dilemma because the ethics of intervention and exit are at crossroad. The intervention pretext was shrouded in hypocrisy, and was deemed unjust. The occupation itself is still problematic because it is the reason for continued problems in the country. now the moral question is that just intervention does not always lead to just outcome, as is unjust occupation.

The United States has been in Iraq for more than a decade now.

The initial invasion was based on the premise that the country has weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)

However, the weapons were never found and the invasion has led to the deaths of nearly 1 million people in the country.

The focus of the invasion then changed to setting up a democratic government, which happened within a few months.

However, after spending more than a Trillion Dollars, the country remains in a far worse condition than it was before the invasion.

The fact that the invasion happened on a false pretext, resulted in the death of so many and achieved virtually nothing is a huge moral dilemma for the American government.