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We’re still fighting George W. Bush’s battles: Syria, ISIS and the “worst foreign policy blunder” in
American HistoryWhat if the U.S. had not invaded Iraq in 2003? How would things be different in the Middle East today? Was Iraq, in the words of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, the worst foreign policy blunder in American history? Lets take a big-picture tour of the Middle East and try to answer those questions. But first, a request: after each paragraph that follows, could you make sure to add the question What could possibly go wrong?
Let the History Begin
In March 2003, when the Bush administration launched its invasion of Iraq, the region, though simmering as ever, looked like this: Libya was stable, ruled by the same strongman for 42 years; in Egypt, Hosni Mubarak had been in power since 1983; Syria had been run by the Assad family since 1971; Saddam Hussein had essentially been in charge of Iraq since 1969, formally becoming president in 1979; the Turks and Kurds had an uneasy but functional ceasefire; and Yemen was quiet enough, other than the terror attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Relations between the U.S. and most of these nations were so warm that Washington was routinely rendering terrorists to their dungeons for some outsourced torture.
Soon after March 2003, when U.S. troops invaded Iraq, neighboring Iran faced two American armies at the peak of their strength. To the east, the U.S. military had effectively destroyed the Taliban and significantly weakened al-Qaeda, both enemies of Iran, but had replaced them as an occupying force. To the west, Irans decades-old enemy, Saddam, was gone, but similarly replaced by another massive occupying force. From this position of weakness, Irans leaders, no doubt terrified that the Americans would pour across its borders, sought real diplomatic rapprochement with Washington for the first time since 1979. The Iranian efforts were rebuffed by the Bush administration.
The Precipitating Event
Nailing down causation is a tricky thing. But like the June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that kicked off the Great War, the one to end all others, Americas 2003 invasion was what novelists refer to as the precipitating event, the thing that may not actively cause every plot twist to come, but that certainly sets them in motion.
http://www.salon.com/2015/10/23/were_still_fighting_george_w_bushs_battles_syria_isis_and_the_worst_foreign_policy_blunder_in_american_history_partner/
I just don't think you can point this stuff out too often.
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We’re still fighting George W. Bush’s battles: Syria, ISIS and the “worst foreign policy blunder” in (Original Post)
bemildred
Oct 2015
OP
Credit where it's due; Obama's 2011 deposal of Gadafi and attempt to remove Assad
frizzled
Oct 2015
#1
frizzled
(509 posts)1. Credit where it's due; Obama's 2011 deposal of Gadafi and attempt to remove Assad
were both incredibly terrible ideas.
Neocon stupidity all around!
Botany
(70,447 posts)2. So true! No w and Cheney war in Iraq = No ISIS
"Nailing down causation is a tricky thing. But like the June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that kicked off the Great War, the one to end all others, Americas 2003 invasion was what novelists refer to as the precipitating event, the thing that may not actively cause every plot twist to come, but that certainly sets them in motion."