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Consequences of the Iraq War

Mar 25, 2003 Jeffrey D. Sachs

The Iraq war's main consequences will not be on the battlefield. They will come later, and will depend on whether George Bush and Tony Blair can justify their onslaught on a largely defenseless population. They launched this war for certain declared reasons, all of which were heatedly debated around the world. If they are vindicated, then the war could conceivably bring a safer world. If their arguments remain unproved or are disproved, then the war will incite instability. In that case, a critical step towards healing the world would be their quick departure from office.

The Iraq War was not and could not be justified on the basis that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant. Justification, if it exists, rests on the danger Saddam's regime posed. Bush and Blair made four claims:

Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction;

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Jeffrey D. Sachs

Writing for PS since 1995
290 Commentaries

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University, is Director of Columbia’s Center for Sustainable Development and of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. His books include The End of Poverty, Common Wealth, The Age of Sustainable Development, Building the New American Economy, and most recently, A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism.