Conclusion

The U.S. history in Iraq undoubtedly involves much that is highly unpopular with Iraqis. The United States made a mess of the first four years of occupation following the 2003 invasion. Occupying forces behaved regrettably many times. The 2011 withdrawal did ultimately allow the rise of ISIS. The United States then failed to come resolutely to Iraq’s aid against ISIS in the years 2014-2016.

And yet now things are good for the United States in Iraq. The U.S.’s key contribution to defeating ISIS in Iraq, its support during the financial perfect storm, and its renewed role as a liberal counterweight to Iran’s far less welcome interference, have improved the U.S.’s standing in the country to the extent that the American brand in Iraq is currently very positive.

Iraq and the United States have, over the last fourteen years, achieved something very rare in the history of bilateral partnerships: defeating and bringing to justice a supposedly immovable tyrant, seeing off a brutal and tenacious insurgency that preyed upon its own people, developing a heavyweight producer on the global economic scene, keeping predatory neighbors at bay, and building a legitimate and accountable government in a land that had mostly known dictatorship and empire. Most recently, we have together destroyed a well-funded and organized Caliphate that at one time controlled one third of the national territory and threatened the federal capital.

All of this was done while more than quadrupling Iraq’s GDP per capita,¹ avoiding communitarian conflict, and building a functioning and ever more established democracy of singular depth in the Arab world and a beacon to the beleaguered peoples of neighboring Syria and Iran.

It is no coincidence that at the very moment when Iraq’s feeling of nationhood has never been stronger, U.S. prestige in Iraq is also at a peak. The last time the United States and Iraq together won a major victory, in 2008, the U.S. left much too completely and much too soon. The military withdrawal was accompanied by a dramatic diplomatic downgrading. The result was catastrophic. With much hard work done last year, both Iraq and the relationship have rebounded dramatically. Now we must avoid the mistakes of 2011 and build further upon this valuable alliance.