Looking at The Iraq War, A History from Beginning to End one would think it was for children’s because it is only about half the size of a regular book. That would be a mistake. While it is printed on small paper and is very short at less than 100 pages it turns out to be a thorough review of the Iraq War from the Clinton to the Biden administrations with some good analysis.
The Iraq War covers most of the major issues from the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act to the 2021 withdrawal of combat troops after the defeat of the Islamic State. One of the themes was that the U.S. could never gain control of security. In 2003 it captured Saddam Hussein. In 2004 it attacked Fallujah, called off the operation and then went back in a few months later. In 2005 elections were held. None of these turned out to be turning points like Washington hoped and in fact by 2006 the country had fallen into civil war. This summary is quite impressive because there is so little text.
Along the way it makes its views about the war very clear. Those are made in the conclusion. It states that the justifications for the war which was Iraq’s connections to Al Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction proved to be untrue. The U.S. then had no real plan for the occupation of the country which led to years of fear and civil war. Winning the peace proved impossible for the Coalition. In the end it agrees with those who believe that Iraq was the most ill-advised war in recent history.
For a novice looking for a quick and fast review of the Iraq War this would be a good start. It has a lot of information and insights despite it only consisting of a relatively few pages.
Link to all of Musings On Iraq’s book reviews listed by topic
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