The US is still grappling with the aftermath of invading Iraq 20 years later

From a strengthened Iran and US influence eroded at the cost of keeping troops in Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State, the US is still grappling with the aftermath of its invasion of Iraq 20 years ago, current officials say and ex.

According to them, then US President George W. Bush’s 2003 decision to forcibly oust Saddam Hussein, the way the limited number of US troops allowed for ethnic conflicts, and the US withdrawal in 2011 greatly complicated the US policy in the Middle East.

The end of Saddam’s Sunni minority rule and replacement by a Shia majority government in Iraq has allowed Iran to deepen its influence in the Levant, especially in Syria, where Iranian forces and Shia militias have helped Bashar al- Assad to put down a Sunni insurgency and stay in power. .

The withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in 2011 left a vacuum that Islamic State (ISIS) militants filled, taking over a third of Iraq and Syria and fueling fears among Gulf Arab countries that they could not be trusted of them in the United States.

After retiring, former US President Barack Obama sent troops to Iraq in 2014, where about 2,500 remain, and deployed to Syria in 2015, where there are about 900 soldiers. US forces in both countries are fighting Islamic State militants, who also operate from North Africa to Afghanistan.

“Our inability, unwillingness, to hammer internal security into the country allowed for the chaos, which gave rise to ISIS,” said former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Armitage, who served in the Republican Bush administration when the United States invaded Iraq, said the US invasion “could be as big a strategic mistake” as Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, which helped defeat Germany in World War II.

The costs of US involvement in Iraq and Syria are enormous.

According to estimates released this week by Brown University’s “Costs of War” project, the current US price tag for the wars in Iraq and Syria is $1.79 trillion, including Pentagon and State Department spending. the care of veterans and interest on debt for conflict financing. Including expected care for veterans through 2050, the figure rises to $2.89 trillion.

Source: Terra

Rose

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