How does President Donald Trump’s war in Iran compare to America’s last war in the Middle East?
The Iran War and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq have combined conventional U.S. military rule with shifting, conflicting goals. And both feature an American president eager to declare mission accomplished.
“I have this kind of empty, terrible feeling, a kind of déja vu,” Dexter Filkins, a staff writer at the New Yorker who was a former Baghdad correspondent for the New York Times, told. Today, It’s Explained co-host Noel King.
Filkins spoke with King about America’s quick victory over Iraq in 2003, the chaos that followed, what the Iraq War did to the American psyche, and where the similarities between that war and Trump’s war on Iran end.
The following is part of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s more throughout the episode, so tune in Today, It’s Explained wherever you get your podcasts, incl Apple Podcasts, Pandoraand Spotify.
President Bush claimed to win the conflict (in Iraq); about six weeks, he gets on an aircraft carrier, he has this sign behind him that says “mission accomplished.” When was the moment when it became clear to you that the mission was not complete?
It was clear when the American army entered Baghdad, and it was April 9, 2003. Riots and looting and bloodshed began immediately. At the end of the day, after the American army marched in victory in the capital; by nightfall, the capital is on fire. And there is complete chaos.
When President Bush jumped on an aircraft carrier and said, “mission accomplished,” it was nonsense at the time. But of course it was a cruel joke because the chaos we witnessed in the capital that day just spread across the country and hit the country and stayed like that for a very long time.
What allowed it to continue? The chaos starts in Baghdad and then spreads. And there is a world in which America is. We have good soldiers, we have good weapons, and therefore we simply win. But that’s not what happened.
The main thing to note is that it is not enough. It’s never enough. And you can say that about the Iran war.
The US military is very good at what they do, and what they do is destroy their enemies. But that is not necessarily enough to make a just and lasting peace that will last and that will, say, allow the United States to leave.
“The important thing to note is that it’s not enough. It’s never enough. And you can say that about the Iran war.”
The United States had plenty of firepower, but it wasn’t enough to hold the country together. This was a very traumatized country that had been torn apart in many different ways, along with its government, over many years. And so all these things were poured out before us.
The big fact is that the US army, after destroying the government, could not maintain order. And until you can have order, you cannot build anything that will last. And it took many years for the United States to find a way to do that.
By the time we left Iraq in 2011, how had the region changed? What did the war do in the Middle East?
The Iraq War was like a magnet for every lunatic – and I mean, every lunatic – not only in the Middle East, but around the world. It was drawing people, especially from the Muslim world, into the country to fight the Americans. And so it became this kind of independent fire.
You can hear, you can see the propaganda, you can hear it on the loudspeakers: Come fight, let’s fight the Americans. And so we got ourselves into this kind of horrible situation where we saw ourselves as liberators. But many people throughout the region saw us as invaders and occupiers.
I wonder if you could reflect on what you think the Iraq War did to Americans. Because I remember the memories of torture, I remember Abu Ghraib…I just remember—and again, I was young, but I remember these things where it was, Oh, this is where we are now.
I can say it’s a little sad note because I think when the Americans entered and they didn’t get any weapons of mass destruction, they didn’t get nuclear weapons, people felt that they were deceived, that the government wanted this war, that they wanted to go to war regardless and they created this mind to enter.
Whether that’s true or not, I think there was a strong sense that people felt betrayed. Somehow we lost our bearings, we lost our way. I think, correctly, there was a feeling like, Oh my God, we started this big ambitious, bloody, expensive project, and what did we get out of it? And I think first of all, for a lot of people, it was very painful that we got out of it.
As you told the story of the Iraq war, I certainly hear parallels with the Iran war. What do you compare? What is appropriate and what is going too far this time?
I would say any war is horrible and horrible things happen. For example, in the Iran war, it is quite clear that The US bombed a children’s school and killed about 150 children. Something like that happens, and it’s not excusable in any way – those things are bad all around.
But I would say there is a feeling that I have, having lived through, and seen up close, the Iraq War – that the government is once again having a hard time talking clearly about its goals and its justification for being there.
That is sad because we live in a democracy and the government should only do what it is authorized to do with its people. President Trump has given many different reasons as to why we are there. And so in that sense, I have this kind of empty, horrible feeling, kind of déjà vu.
One of the ideas we hear is that America is not learning its lesson. America is returning to the Middle East. America will fight another stupid, eternal war.
You obviously have a different perspective on this, and you were in this area, and that’s important for a lot. What is the main lesson here for you after the last 25 years of US intervention in the Middle East?
I think maybe that there is no big lesson, but in the case of Iran, in the Iran war, I will tell you how I feel about it. I don’t like how the war started. I’m really disappointed about that, but we’re in it and it’s too late to turn back now.
I think the best we can hope for and should hope for is that we can reach a satisfactory resolution. At the very least, I think that means for the Strait to be open so that the world economy does not fall into recession. My greatest hope is that we can somehow get out of this war in a way that doesn’t leave the region in even greater chaos than it is now.
