IRAQ WAR
Summer 2013
Belfer Center Newsletter Summer 2013
Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
The Summer 2013 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This edition highlights the Belfer Center’s expanding work on complex cybersecurity issues and Middle East challenges, offers reflections on the role of the U.S. in Iraq, and spotlights work being done by the Center and its affiliates on environment and energy issues.
Summer 2013
"Nussaibah Younis: Foreign Policies of Weak States Matter"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
The invasion of Iraq prompted a deluge of work written on the country from a U.S. perspective, but Nussaibah Younis, a fellow with the Belfer Center's International Security Program, wants people to start considering Iraq as an actor in its own right. While at the Center, Younis is working on a project that seeks to understand internal Iraqi foreign policymaking dynamics since 2003.
(Photo: Jay Conners)
Summer 2013
"Views on Iraq: 10 Years Later"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
In March 2003 the United States invaded Iraq. In March 2013, on the 10-year anniversary of the war’s commencement, a number of Belfer Center faculty and affiliates reflected on the war and its legacy. Below is a sampling of those viewpoints.
May 2, 2013
"Why Maliki Must Go"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Nussaibah Younis, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"...Mr. Maliki, who took office in 2006, had a successful first term, he has squandered the opportunity to heal the nation in his second term, which began in 2010. He has taken a hard sectarian line on security and political challenges. He has resisted integrating Sunnis into the army. He has accused senior Sunni politicians of being terrorists, hounded them from power and lost the cooperation of the Sunni community. The result: the political bargain that had sustained the fragile Iraqi state broke down."
April 8, 2013
"Take Burden off Veterans Affairs"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"Long-neglected computer upgrades are coming on line, but the VA's promises that the backlog will be overcome by 2015 seem specious given that 97 percent of all claims are still made in paper. Continued delays aren't only concerns for those who've already fought. They could discourage new recruits. The Defense Department is well aware that its ability to recruit troops to an all-volunteer force is made more difficult if veterans' services are being neglected."
Spring 2013
"Correspondence: Assessing the Synergy Thesis in Iraq"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 4, volume 37
By John Hagan, Joshua Kaiser, Anna Hanson, Jon R. Lindsay, Austin Long, Stephen Biddle, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 1985–1987; Editorial Board Member, Quarterly Journal: International Security, Jeffrey A. Friedman, Research Fellow, International Security Program and Jacob N. Shapiro
John Hagan, Joshua Kaiser, and Anna Hanson; Jon R. Lindsay and Austin G. Long respond to Stephen Biddle, Jeffrey A. Friedman, and Jacob N. Shapiro's summer 2012 International Security article, "Testing the Surge: Why Did Violence Decline in Iraq in 2007?"
Spring 2013
"International Security Journal Highlights"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
International Security is America’s leading journal of security affairs. It provides sophisticated analyses of contemporary security issues and discusses their conceptual and historical foundations. The journal is edited at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center and published quarterly by the MIT Press.
March 20, 2013
"The Painful Lessons of Iraq"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"Invading Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein a decade ago was one of the biggest strategic errors in modern American history. We’ll never know whether the story might have been different if better planning had been done for 'the day after,' or the Iraqi army hadn’t been disbanded, or several other 'ifs.' But the abiding truth is that America shouldn’t have rolled the dice this way on a war of choice," opines David Ignatius of the Washington Post.
March 21, 2013
"Triste Anniversaire"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"...[T]his was a useless war, conceived under the mistaken pretext that Saddam was in possession of weapons of mass destruction and resulting in untold sacrifices of dead and wounded on all sides."
March 20, 2013
"'Iran is the Main Beneficiary of the Iraq War'"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, The European
By Max Tholl and Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs; Faculty Chair, International Security Program
"Iran has always been a major power in that region. Under Saddam however, Iran and Iraq were bitter enemies who fought a long war and were strongly opposed to one another. There was almost a rough balance of power between the two countries. By reducing Iraq's power and by allowing the Shia to become the dominant political force in Iraq, the US removed the main country balancing Iran, and helped bring to power a government that has at least some sympathies and links to Iran. So, Iran is by far the main strategic beneficiary of the Iraq War, which made it even more difficult for the US and its allies to deal with the country."
