What Went Wrong in Iraq By Larry Diamond
>From Foreign Affairs, September/October 2004
Summary: Although the early U.S. blunders in the occupation of Iraq are
well known, their consequences are just now becoming clear. The Bush
administration was never willing to commit the resources necessary to
secure the country and did not make the most of the resources it had.
U.S. officials did get a number of things right, but they never
understood-or even listened to-the country they were seeking to rebuild.
As a result, the democratic future of Iraq now hangs in the balance.
Larry Diamond is Co-editor of the Journal of Democracy and Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. From January to April 2004, he served as a Senior Adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad.