Nation-building in Afghanistan and Iraq was the resurrection of a doctrine that should have been buried after Vietnam.
September 11 and the Debacle of ‘Nation-Building’ in Iraq and Afghanistan
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Iraq
Many Americans Refused to Consider Why 9/11 Happened. The Costs Were Enormous.
Middle East experts who opposed America’s post-9/11 wars were ridiculed as anti-American extremists. In reality, it was the pro-war right that was making us less safe.
The Victims of Our Post-9/11 Wars Deserve Remembrance, Too
Countless innocents died in the 20 years of war our country launched in the name of our 9/11 dead.
Is This Country Heading for the Exit?
Three decades after the Soviet empire headed for the exit, is it possible that the far more powerful American one is ever so chaotically heading in the same direction?
America’s Afghan War Is Ending. What About Iraq — and Iran?
Even as Biden sticks to the Afghanistan withdrawal, he’s launching strikes in Iraq and delaying a return to the Iran deal.
Why Biden Might not be Able to Extricate the US from its Middle East Quagmire
Biden has promised an end to the endless wars. But such promises are not easy to keep.
The Day I Became Antiwar
A personal recollection on the day that launched the Iraq War — and its lessons for us 18 years later.
How Endless Wars and Interventions Helped Create the Assault on the Capitol
I served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Capitol insurrection was as a vivid reminder that our foreign policy has undermined the American system, too.
Biden’s Reckless Syria Bombing Is Not the Diplomacy He Promised
Why hasn’t the Biden administration just done what it said it would do: Rejoin the Iran nuclear deal and de-escalate conflicts?
Trump Never Did End The ‘Forever Wars.’ Will Biden?
Little in Biden’s history or appointments suggests he’s inclined to end America’s permanent war posture. But empires are not sustained by inclination alone.