The Iraq Wars : A Very Short Introduction

Between 1990 and 2018, the United States fought a closely intertwined series of wars in Iraq. The Iraq Wars highlight a conundrum in international history. This string of conflicts was the most persistent and bothersome issue for the United States over the course of several decades. As such, wars in Iraq had influence far beyond the Middle East or the United States. They shaped global history and will continue to impact international politics for the foreseeable future. Utilizing both American and Iraqi sources, The Iraq Wars: A Very Short Introduction knits these individual conflicts together into a uniquely digestible analysis of the complexity of these wars in context as a whole. In doing so, it draws out the underlying causes of each war as well as the continuity between them.

American wars in Iraq were a defining feature of global politics for almost thirty years. The Gulf War of 1991, the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the campaign against the Islamic State beginning in 2014 each had their own logic. Each occurrence was a distinct conflict; however they must not only be considered in isolation. The United States spent the 1990s trying but failing to implement the Gulf War''s cease fire agreement. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, American leaders decided to settle the open-ended aftermath of the Gulf War by launching the Iraq War of 2003. The Iraq War unleashed resistance, civil war, insurgency and eventually the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Thus, following the Gulf War, each war was fought to finish the previous conflict. The Iraq Wars, therefore, are perhaps best understood as a chain of events.Academics, journalists, statesmen, and soldiers have produced many library shelves of books on the Iraq Wars. Yet, no short, easily digestible volume exists to synthesize this vast literature of both English and Arabic sources. The Iraq Wars: A Very Short Introduction covers this series of important conflicts as a whole, in a highly succinct and uniquely readable way.