The Disenchantment of Iraq
While Iraq certainly is better off without Saddam Hussein, the success of the Iraq War must be measured by whether its goals – particularly the establishment of a constitutional democracy and the country’s economic reconstruction – have been achieved. Applying this standard ten years later, the war was a monumental failure.
LONDON – Twenty-five years ago, on March 16, 1988, Saddam Hussein’s troops spread poison gas through the Kurdish town of Halabja. The attack, which killed an estimated 5,000 people and injured up to 10,000 more, remains the largest chemical-weapons attack ever to target a civilian population.