The 2003 US invasion of Iraq was the biggest disaster in US foreign policy since the Vietnam War. None of the declared objectives, including the destruction of weapons of mass destruction, the support of stable democracies, the promotion of regional stability and the reduction of terrorism have been achieved.
Worse still, 4,500 Americans have been killed and 32,000 wounded in Iraq since 2003. It is the largest number of people killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In addition, more than 110,000 Iraqis were killed as a direct result of the civil war caused by the US invasion. Syria also suffered indirect and destructive effects, which contributed to the chaos in this country. A war in Yemen may never have happened.
Worst of all, the Iraq war of 2003 caused a massive wave of terrorism, especially the most deadly forms of suicide terrorism. Prior to the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Iraq has never experienced suicide terrorism in its history. As soon as the United States invaded, suicide terrorist attacks began almost immediately, and since then Iraq has suffered the highest number of suicide terrorist attacks compared to any country in the world; by 2394 attacks until early 2019, killing more than 24 thousand people, including In which many American and Western soldiers and civilians, and with the emergence of the organization «Daash», these attacks moved to the West.
Suicide bombing attacks in Iraq are a direct result of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. Al Qaeda in Iraq, an armed terrorist group, was primarily responsible for suicide attacks, which gained momentum after the 2003 attacks against the United Nations and other targets linked to the Shi'ite government supported by the United States. According to the original leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, these targets were the "eye, ear and hand" of the American occupier, and then the long-term enemy of the new Shiite government. The terrorist organization Daqash was born from the womb of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The US invasion of Iraq led to a permanent Sunni anger, in response to the occupation of Sunni areas by US forces and the occupation of the US-authorized Shiite government. For these Iraqis, suicide terrorism is their response to both occupation, the American and Shiite.
Thus, simply withdrawing US and Western forces is not enough to stop the wave of suicide terrorism. In Vietnam, the United States could have simply given up its place to reverse the negative effects to a large extent. But the invasion of Iraq in 2003 caused permanent terrorism that would continue until Iraq enjoyed a real political, economic and social status, the tragic price of the folly committed in March 2003.
• 4,500 US soldiers have been killed and 32,000 wounded in Iraq since 2003.
Robert Pape - Professor of Political Science and Director of the Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago.