With all of the various crises currently embroiling the world, it was probably easy to overlook a rather sad anniversary that took place this month. It’s been slightly more than 20 years since the United States government invaded Iraq, supposedly with the purpose of rooting out and eliminating weapons of mass destruction that threatened to trigger the end of the world. We overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein in a matter of weeks, sending the definitively evil dictator into hiding. And in true neoconservative fashion, America promised to replace tyranny with democracy, oppression with freedom, corruption with free-market capitalism, and all of the other hallmarks of a new shining city on the hill in the middle of a desert. We all saw how that worked out. This week, Foreign Affairs published a lengthy, depressing summary of the twenty years that followed, titled, “Why Iraqi Democracy Never Stood a Chance.” It serves as a reminder that the flower of democracy doesn’t easily take root in every type of soil.Read More
America created a failed state in Iraq
