The Americans in Iraq

Abstract

Abstract This chapter covers the invasion of Iraq by the American and British forces in 2003, and the subsequent resistance which that generated. It begins with a brief history of Iraq and the background to the Gulf War in 1990, and then considers the justifications of the invasion after 9/11 and the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. Tracing the various and vacuous intelligence briefings, it underscores the fabricated narrative that led to the invasion and the poverty of planning for a post-Saddam Iraq. This led to the upsurge in Iraqi resistance and the internecine war between the occupiers and the insurgents: the Sunni and the Shia forces. As the resistance strengthened and the occupiers floundered, Iraq descended into civil war and that ultimately generated a hasty exit by the occupying forces and the entry of ISIS. Twenty years after the invasion and the ‘Mission Accomplished’ speech by President Bush, Iraq remains close to a failed state and neither the occupiers nor the resistance achieved what they wanted.