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The bombing of Baghdad during the US invasion of Iraq, March 21, 2003.

A Terrible Mistake

The long history of confusions, misconceptions, and miscalculations in the relationship between the US and Iraq, from 1979 to 2003.
by Charlie Savage via New York Review of Books on August 29, 2024
U.S. Army soldiers stand guard near a portrait of Saddam Hussein while others search an Iraqi police station in March 2003.

Steve Coll’s Latest Shows Saddam Hussein’s Practical Side

‘The Achilles Trap’ reexamines the relationship between Hussein and four U.S. administrations.
by Spencer Ackerman via Washington Post on February 27, 2024
The Iraq flag waving in the wind.

Confronting the Iraq War

Melvyn Leffler’s book on the roots of the Iraq invasion demonstrates the pitfalls of excessive trust in one’s sources, especially when they're top policymakers.
by Joseph Stieb via War on the Rocks on January 30, 2023
Censored text and George W. Bush with a black bar covering his eyes. Art by Alex Cochran.

What Really Took America to War in Iraq

A fatal combination of fear, power, and hubris.
by Melvyn P. Leffler via The Atlantic on January 23, 2023
Graphic of Earth surrounded by red and white squiggles

What Is the Most Damaging Conspiracy Theory in History?

"What makes this conspiracy theory so damaging is its adaptability."
by Christine Caldwell Ames, David G. Robertson, Daniel Kolitz, Jennifer Rice, Joseph Parent, Sara Lipton, Peter Knight via Gizmodo on July 12, 2021
George W. Bush speaking to marines

Why Did We Invade Iraq?

The most complete account we are likely to get of the deceptions and duplicities that led to war leaves some crucial mysteries unsolved.
by Fred Kaplan via New York Review of Books on July 6, 2021
Picture of David Rumsfield

How Rumsfeld Deserves to Be Remembered

America’s worst secretary of defense never expressed a quiver of regret.
by George Packer via The Atlantic on July 1, 2021

Ari Fleischer Lied, and People Died

The former Bush mouthpiece had more to do personally with the Iraq WMD catastrophe than he wants us to believe.
by Scott Ritter via The American Conservative on March 22, 2019
Image of a person being affected by chemical weapons.

Why We Don’t Use Chemical Weapons

World War I exposed the world to the horror of gas attacks. But why do we draw the line there when other methods of killing prove so much more effective?
by Emil Friis Ernst via The Nib on July 30, 2018

Iran Hawks Are the New Iraq Hawks

Many of the assumptions that guided America’s march to conflict in 2003 still dominate American foreign policy today.   
by Peter Beinart via The Atlantic on May 8, 2018

The People Who Would Survive Nuclear War

How an appendix to an obscure government report helped launch a blockbuster and push back the possibility of atomic war.
by Alexis C. Madrigal via The Atlantic on January 25, 2018

Is It Time for a 21st-Century Version of ‘The Day After’?

It’s beginning to feel like the 1980s all over again.
by Marsha Gordon via The Conversation on January 25, 2018

I Don't Care How Good His Paintings Are, He Still Belongs in Prison

George W. Bush committed an international crime that killed hundreds of thousands of people.
by Nathan J. Robinson via Current Affairs on April 19, 2017

The U.S. Contemplated a Nuclear Confrontation in North Korea in 1953.

The Trump Administration can - and should - learn from that moment.
by David E. Kaiser via TIME on April 14, 2017

The 'Madman Theory' of Nuclear War Has Existed for Decades. Now, Trump Is Playing the Madman.

Is he crazy, or crazy like a fox?
by Nicole Hemmer via Vox on January 4, 2017
Screenshot of JFK's televised address.

President Kennedy's Cuban Missile Crisis Oval Office Address

In response to the build-up of Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, JFK ordered a quarantine of the island and military surveillance missions.
via C-SPAN on October 22, 1962
Joe Biden and George W. Bush.

Biden Is Repeating Bush’s Post-9/11 Playbook. It’s Not Working.

Like his predecessor, the president is decrying anti-Arab and Muslim hatred while helping fuel it. People are refusing to let him get away with this hypocrisy.
by Saliha Bayrak via The Nation on February 23, 2024
Senator Brien McMahon and J. Robert Oppenheimer. April 26, 1954.

The True Story Behind Oppenheimer’s Atomic Test—And How It Just Might Have Ended The World

It turns out there was an "unlikely" chance the first atomic bomb could have ignited the atmosphere — which didn’t stop the Manhattan Project.
by Kelsey Piper via Vox on July 19, 2023
Photo of George Bush giving a speech.

Why Did the United States Invade Iraq? The Debate at 20 Years.

The invasion is still the most important foreign policy decision by a 21st century U.S. president, so the surfeit of analysis should surprise no one.
by Joseph Stieb via Texas National Security Review on June 6, 2023
George w. Bush delivers a speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln under a banner reading "Mission Accomplished."

The Worst Crime of the 21st Century

The United States’ destruction of Iraq remains the worst international crime of our time. Its perpetrators remain free and its horrors are buried.
by Noam Chomsky, Nathan J. Robinson via Current Affairs on May 12, 2023

Iraq and the Pathologies of Primacy

The flawed logic that produced the war is alive and well.
by Stephen Wertheim via Foreign Affairs on March 17, 2023
Photo illustration of a button causing death courtesy of MIT Press Reader.

How Americans Got Comfortable With Killing at the Push of a Button

For years, the idea seemed immoral and dangerous.
by Rachel Plotnick via Slate on June 20, 2022
Then-President George W. Bush meets with his father, former president George H.W. Bush, and former president Bill Clinton in the Oval Office in 2005.
partner

Biden’s Putin Comments Could Warp U.S. Policy

The lesson of the first Gulf War and its aftermath for handling Russia.
by Joseph Stieb via Made By History on April 1, 2022
Visitors sit next to displays of missiles and a sea defense weapon system at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, or Airshow China, in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China, on Sept. 29
partner

Fear About China’s New Space Weapon Echoes Older Worries About War From Space

And that’s exactly why there is no need to overreact.
by Stephen Buono via Made By History on October 26, 2021
An American propaganda leaflet dropped ahead of Curtis LeMay’s firebomb campaign over Japan.

Narrative Napalm

Malcolm Gladwell’s apologia for American butchery.
by Noah Kulwin via The Baffler on May 17, 2021
Profiles of four people in background with a hand holding a military gun in the foreground

This Soldier’s Witness to the Iraq War Lie

A U.S. intelligence officer reflects on the moral corruption of an open-ended occupation.
by Frederic Wehrey via New York Review of Books on September 15, 2020
U.S. President George W. Bush holds a news conference in the briefing room of the White House in Washington July 15, 2008.

George W. Bush's White House "Lost" 22 Million Emails

The outrage and press coverage was nothing compared with that surrounding Hillary Clinton's emails.
by Nina Burleigh via Newsweek on September 12, 2016
George W. Bush

George W. Bush Declares a War on Terror

Bush’s 2002 State of the Union address kicked off a war that continued well into the 21st century.
via Voices & Visions on January 29, 2002

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