AggressionAnalysisAsiaDefenceDiplomacyEuropeFeaturesGlobal IssuesICGIraq IssueMiddle EastNorth AmericaPoliticsSecurityWorld
Iraq Twenty Years After
The architects of the 2003 invasion of Iraq had grand visions of transforming the Middle East in favour of U.S. interests.
Two decades later, it is clear that the venture was a failure not just in that respect, but in most others as well.
- Joost Hiltermann
- ICG
Propelled by a group of ideologues known as the neoconservatives, the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq started as a gambit by the George W. Bush administration to re-engineer the Middle East.
Though justified as a response to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s supposed involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks in the U.S., and his alleged possession of capacity to make biological or other weapons of mass destruction, the…