The Legacy of an Evil War

Unfortunately, a lot of people in Washington do not have a “no more Iraqs” mindset.

Hal Brands doesn’t want the legacy of a criminal war of aggression to get in the way of more interventionism in the future:

The “no more Iraqs” mindset carries other dangers, as well. In an ideal world, Washington would surely love to abandon an unstable Middle East. Yet it cannot because it still has important interests there, from counterterrorism to ensuring the smooth functioning of the global energy market. A stubborn resistance to Middle Eastern wars might help avoid future quagmires. Or as Obama discovered, it might lead to episodes in which violent upheaval builds, U.S. interests are threatened, and Washington intervenes later, from a worse position and at a higher price.

The only “danger” of a “no more Iraqs” mindset is that the U.S. would not launch any more wars of aggression against much weaker countries that pose no threat to us. This is dangerous only for those that would like to launch other unnecessary and unjust wars that have nothing to do with American security. Unfortunately, a lot of people in Washington do not have a “no more Iraqs” mindset. As Brands’ review shows, a disturbingly large number of people in our foreign policy establishment look at the Iraq war and say, “Well, it wasn’t so bad when you think about it, and we could have won if we had just stuck it out a little longer.” These people aren’t bothered by the illegality and the aggression, but they are annoyed that it put a crimp in U.S. meddling abroad for a very short time.

The Iraq war wasn’t just an ill-advised military campaign that went poorly. It was a grave breach of international law and an act of criminal aggression. It was a crime against the people of Iraq. It was, as Spencer Ackerman has said, “one of the most evil, disastrous wars America ever waged.” Many Americans can’t or won’t admit this even now, and some still carry water for the people responsible for that war of aggression. No one should be allowed to forget what our government did in our name, and no one should get to spin it or whitewash it as anything other than the crime that it was.