Two Decades After Invasion of Iraq, Debates Continue Over Divisive War
Summary from the AllSides News Team
This week marks twenty years since the United States launched its second invasion of Iraq, leading many to reflect on the legacy and ongoing impact of the war.
An article in BBC News determined that U.S. efforts to curb Islamic terrorism in Iraq had the opposite effect, stating, “far from destroying the ideology of Osama Bin Laden and the jihadist extremists, the years of chaos and brutality set off in 2003 turbo-charged murderous jihadist violence.”
David Frum, formerly a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, reflected on the factors that led the Bush Administration to push for the invasion, determining that it “dangerously overestimated the prospects for foreign intervention to build a stable and decent replacement regime.” While highlighting the damage done by the war, Frum does not believe Iraq would have been better off had Saddam Hussein remained in power, stating, “whether Iraq had an alternative future that would have been much better for the country and its people seems very doubtful to me.”
An article in Jacobin criticized political figures that defend the war, dismissing their arguments as irrelevant when stacked against the cost in human life, stating, “whether the country being attacked has a democratic or dictatorial government doesn’t make a war any less wrong or criminal, given that the costs to innocent people are the same. And the many Iraqis who suffered under the bombardment of US ‘shock and awe’ will be surprised to learn about the supposed virtue of US cruise missiles.”
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