The system of government set up after 2003 has run its course. Twenty years ago this month, the rule of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein collapsed, ushering in a new era for Iraq, the Middle East, and the world. The war that toppled him remains contentious among Iraqis and Americans. Yet for many Iraqis who suffered under his brutal dictatorship, it was a moment of salvation fr
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If one looks back on the U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan in 2001, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. can claim many tactical successes in fighting terrorism and violent opposition movements. It also “won” one of its wars. While the U.S. was ultimately defeated in Afghanistan, it did win a kind of victory in its two wars in Iraq: first against hardline Sunn
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Gallup started listening to the voices of the Iraqi people shortly after the invasion and has been back to interview them every year since 2008. On the 20th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, we explore how Iraqis see their lives now and how their views have evolved over time. The question of whether life in Iraq is better or worse now than 20 years ago has no definit
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Two decades after the US invasion of Iraq, the civil war of the years that followed and the ravages of the Islamic State have faded into the background. Yet the country remains shaken by internal cleavages, torn apart by corruption, and vulnerable to influence operations by external actors. Overcoming economic crisis and infrastructural shortcomings could contribute to greater
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This paper attempts to analyse the reasons that paved the way for the US administration to take the decision of direct military intervention and change the political regime in Iraq in 2003 and not in 1991, focusing on changing economic interest of the USA in the region which influenced that decision. There is near consensus among Iraqi political analysts that the American in
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