An Unhappy Anniversary for the Iraq War

On the unhappy 15th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, the Charles Koch Institute ’s William Ruger and Boston University’s Andrew Bacevich offer important and timely op eds.Writing in theNew York Times, Ruger sees Iraq as “just the worst in a string of failures” of U.S. foreign policy in the past quarter century, a range of missions that have cost nearly 7,000 American troops killed, tens of thousands wounded, and trillions of dollars spent, with precious little to show for it. “Underlying all of these failures ,” Ruger writes, “is the view, endorsed by both parties, that we need an active military presence around the globe to shape what happens almost everywhere.” He calls for an “alternate approach to the United States’ role in the world,” a “constructive but realistic mind-set [that] would put our safety first while expanding America’s opportunities to engage productively with the world.”Bacevich takes the occasion of this sad anniversary to comment onthe disconnect between the American people and the elites who sold the war. He attributes Donald Trump ’s victory in the 2016 election to the “blood sacrifice vote” – the “communities that paid a high price for the Iraq War in terms of casualties.” Hillary Clinton prevailed among those who preferred to let “someone else’s sons and daughters do the fighting.” It is the sort of scathi ng critique that Bacevich has come to be known for, but it is no less accurate or insightful...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs