Mennonite Weekly Review

There’s a growing narrative that Iraq’s solidifying democracy makes the seven years of U.S. war and occupation a worthy enterprise.

Some observers have even spun Iraq’s March 7 elections as proof that democracy promotion by military occupation can succeed. Don’t believe the hype. The Iraq war remains a mistake of mammoth proportions. And Iraq’s election represents a pyrrhic victory, as the economic, political and moral costs of the occupation far outweigh any benefits.

First are the sacrifices of blood and treasure. The broad consensus is that the Iraq war has cost the U.S. economy more than $700 billion, with the meter still running. It has also left nearly 4,400 American troops dead, more than 31,000 physically disabled and countless more psychologically traumatized.

According to most estimates, more than 100,000 Iraqis have been killed since the invasion. More than 2 million displaced Iraqi Sunnis, who fled into neighboring Jordan and Syria, are adding instability to an already politically precarious region.

The war also upset the regional balance of power, as it substantially strengthened Iran’s influence in Iraq and severely limited U.S. policy options toward Tehran’s clerical regime. The removal of Saddam Hussein as the principal strategic counterweight to Iran paved the way for the expansion of Iranian influence in Iraq.

A third side effect of the war waged purportedly in democracy’s name is that it came at the expense of America’s already frayed reputation in the Muslim world. Far from being seen as a benevolent liberator, the United States was perceived as a blundering behemoth. And the war did little to keep America safe from al-Qaida, the perpetrators of 9/11.

Today, polls show most Americans say the invasion of Iraq was a “mistake” and “not worth it.”

The most important lesson we must take away is not that more troops, better tactics and improved cooperation can produce success the next time around. Rather, it is that wars have the potential to expose the limits of military power.

Seven years later, let’s hope Americans have learned the right lessons. Let’s hope, too, that fortunes in the Middle East will turn for the better for the millions of innocent civilians uprooted by conflict.

Malou Innocent is a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute.