**All: I posted a contribution to the Lowy Interpreter discussion on the Iraq War – below gets you started, and the last sentence will link you to the rest if you’re interested. All best, Matt
Just thought I would attempt a small contribution to your ongoing debate on the Iraq War. I served there twice (03-04 and 05-06) and consider it an important subject (although I had to be reminded that the 10th Anniversary was approaching!). I was actually moving north from Kuwait at that point in time!
Anyhow, below the Interpreter’s readers can find an interesting counterfactual piece by Bobby Ghosh, the International Editor at Time, in which he describes why he thinks Saddam would have survived the Arab Spring. This, I think, would be a nice follow-up to Michael Ware’s fairly lengthy post. The point Ghosh makes ought to be confronted by any rigorous analysis of the Iraq War’s place in history: the price of inaction. Always an unsatisfying policy option, but likely one the world will see from America in the coming decade. What might such inaction bring?
Here’s the first contribution, then the second response.