The Fifth Anniversary of the Iraq War

Carnegie President Jessica T. Mathews shares her thoughts on lessons learned in the five years since the invasion, the debate over withdrawal, the “surge” and lack of political progress, and guiding principles for US foreign policy in the future. Mathews argues that much of what has happened in Iraq proved to be utterly predictable and — at the cost of many lives and billions of dollars — destabilized the region and created an incredibly divisive political debate over the withdrawal of troops.