The Legacy of Iraq : From the 2003 War to the 'Islamic State'

One of the often stated aims of the war was to 're create' Iraq as a democratic, peaceful and prosperous Western ally that would serve as a beacon of progress in the region. This book intends to dissect the diverse consequences of the Iraq war and provide new insights into the reasons why the country has descended into its current chaos.

The Legacy of Iraq'' critically reflects on the abject failure of the 2003 intervention to turn Iraq into a liberal democracy, underpinned by free-market capitalism, its citizens free to live in peace and prosperity. It argues that mistakes made by the coalition and the Iraqi political elite set a sequence of events in motion that have had devastating consequences for Iraq, the Middle East and for the rest of the world. Today, as the nation faces perhaps its greatest challenge in the wake of the devastating advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and another US-led coalition undertakes renewed military action in Iraq, understanding the complex and difficult legacies of the 2003 war could not be more urgent. Ignoring the legacies of the Iraq war and denying their connection to contemporary events could mean that vital lessons are ignored and the same mistakes made again.