The Middle East’s Lost Decade
George W. Bush’s war against Saddam Hussein radically altered the Middle East, though not as he envisaged. The region is at risk of becoming the Balkans of the twenty-first century – a decline into chaos that began with, and was largely the result of, the US-led invasion of Iraq ten years ago.
BERLIN – The United States has waged three wars since Al Qaeda’s terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001: against Al Qaeda, in Afghanistan, and in Iraq. The first two were forced upon the US, but the third was the result of a willful, deliberate decision by former President George W. Bush, taken on ideological grounds and, most likely, for personal reasons as well.