Nir Rosen: Iraq Is No Blueprint for Afghanistan
[Nir Rosen is a fellow at the New York University Center on Law and Security and author of Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America's Wars in the Muslim World.]
General David Petraeus will soon be back in Washington D.C. to report on progress in a war many consider lost, this time in Afghanistan. The narrative that Petraeus and his surge in troops along with the new way of war he is credited in perfecting led to "success" in Iraq is hard to challenge these days. It informs our view of Afghanistan as well, with many placing their faith in the hopes that Petraeus will save us in Afghanistan just as he did in Iraq. The truth is much more complex. Iraq's fortunes changed for many reasons, not only the changes introduced by Gen. Petraeus. And the terrible costs to Iraqis should give pause to those who want to replicate the experience in Afghanistan.
If we hope to avoid learning the wrong lessons for Afghanistan, we have to better understand what really happened in Iraq. Although it is commonly believed to have erupted in 2006 after the Samara Shrine bombing, the civil war in Iraq really began in 2003. It intensified after the 2004 destruction of Fallujah which led to hundreds of thousands of Sunnis from the Anbar province pouring into western Baghdad, displacing Shiites who fled to east Baghdad and displaced Sunnis. In Iraq, Sunni and Shiite militias were at war against the occupation and each other. Self defense militias and resistance groups soon preyed on the populations they were trying to protect or liberate...
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General David Petraeus will soon be back in Washington D.C. to report on progress in a war many consider lost, this time in Afghanistan. The narrative that Petraeus and his surge in troops along with the new way of war he is credited in perfecting led to "success" in Iraq is hard to challenge these days. It informs our view of Afghanistan as well, with many placing their faith in the hopes that Petraeus will save us in Afghanistan just as he did in Iraq. The truth is much more complex. Iraq's fortunes changed for many reasons, not only the changes introduced by Gen. Petraeus. And the terrible costs to Iraqis should give pause to those who want to replicate the experience in Afghanistan.
If we hope to avoid learning the wrong lessons for Afghanistan, we have to better understand what really happened in Iraq. Although it is commonly believed to have erupted in 2006 after the Samara Shrine bombing, the civil war in Iraq really began in 2003. It intensified after the 2004 destruction of Fallujah which led to hundreds of thousands of Sunnis from the Anbar province pouring into western Baghdad, displacing Shiites who fled to east Baghdad and displaced Sunnis. In Iraq, Sunni and Shiite militias were at war against the occupation and each other. Self defense militias and resistance groups soon preyed on the populations they were trying to protect or liberate...