Americans Can Be Proud of What Was Achieved in Iraq

No, it is not. People have forgotten the history of Saddam Hussein's Iraq: two wars against his neighbors resulting in about a million deaths; brutalization of his own people killing tens if not hundreds of thousands; use of poison gas against Iraqi Kurds; lifelong support for terrorism; open defiance of the U.N. Security Council. American soldiers can be proud of their role in ending this criminal regime and freeing the Iraqi people from a brutal tyrant.
 
Syria today shows what happens when a bloody dictator goes unchecked. Leaving Saddam in power would have badly undermined the credibility of the U.N. and the U.S. As Iran—Saddam's mortal enemy—restarted its nuclear program after 2005, Saddam would have resuscitated his own, igniting a nuclear-arms race. Saddam would likely have intervened in the uprising against Syria's Bashar Assad, fanning the sectarian conflict that now threatens much of the Middle East.
 
The removal of Saddam opened up a very different possibility: an Iraq in which Sunni, Shiites, Kurds, Christians and other minorities would work together to build a democratic and peaceful future. This was the goal that most Iraqis set for themselves.
 
The George W. Bush administration in which I served strongly supported their effort. But we made mistakes—for which many of us bear responsibility— that made the effort more costly than it should have been in lives lost, bodies broken, families disrupted and money spent.
 
For example, the Bush administration did considerable postwar planning. But as retired Marine Gen. John Allen, a man with deep experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, noted at a retrospective last year, these kinds of military operations must be planned beginning with the post-combat mission and working backward. The Bush administration did it the other way around.
 
One consequence was that in the post-combat period we overemphasized the distinctions among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. This unwittingly encouraged the very sectarian tension among these groups that al Qaeda brutally exploited to plunge the country into near civil war by 2005 and 2006. The war that our soldiers had won in deposing Saddam was almost lost to the terrorists.
 
A change in approach was needed. Press coverage at the time described most Americans as skeptical about President Bush's decision in January 2007 to "surge" 30,000 more troops and switch to a population-protection strategy. But with dedication and innovation in executing that strategy, U.S. military personnel, diplomats and intelligence officers joined with Iraqi forces and militia to defeat al Qaeda by the end of 2008. A unity government of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds was in power in Baghdad. Low levels of al Qaeda attacks continued, but they posed little threat to Iraq's stability.
 
The Obama administration has made its own mistakes in Iraq. The political process that followed the 2010 parliamentary elections in Iraq—in which the U.S. had a major role—produced a government in which many Sunnis felt underrepresented. An increase in sectarian tensions followed, compounded by the Shiite-led Iraqi government's actions that were widely viewed as a crackdown on Sunni leadership. The failure to leave any military force in Iraq after 2011 reduced U.S. leverage to mitigate these sectarian splits. It also deprived Iraqi forces of two more years of counterterrorism training to meet the re-emerging al Qaeda threat.
 
The recent spike in al Qaeda attacks in Iraq results from nearly three years of civil war in neighboring Syria, mistakes by the Iraqi government, and an inadequate response from the U.S. and its regional allies. The Syrian civil war attracted al Qaeda foreign fighters who soon spilled into Iraq. The Iraqi government's perceived crackdown on its Sunni citizens further encouraged the re-emergence of al Qaeda in Iraq. Press reports suggest that the numbers of foreign fighters involved are in the thousands, more than were present at the height of the Iraq War. These fighters are apparently well supplied with money and weapons.
 
Yet all is not lost. Americans helped build and train an Iraqi security force that numbers well over 500,000. Sunni tribes that rallied to American forces in 2007-08 are rejoining the fight against al Qaeda. As the price of their support, they are demanding a greater role in the Iraqi government—a step that would help restore the original vision of a tolerant and inclusive Iraq.
 
Iraqis will determine the outcome of this struggle, but the U.S. can help. At the request of the Iraqi government, the U.S. has promised Hellfire missiles, helicopters and other military equipment, and intelligence is being shared. Congress needs to approve the funding and transfer of this equipment to Iraq. The American people need to understand that their own security now rides on this fight. For we know this about al Qaeda: Ultimately, Americans and our interests, friends and territory will be their target.
 
The Iraqi people can win this renewed fight against al Qaeda. When they do, they will have a chance to restart the effort they began in 2003: to build a state where Sunni, Shiites, Kurds, Christians and other minorities work together to build a democratic future in a peaceful and prosperous Iraq.
 
Meanwhile, the great hopes sparked by the 2011 "Arab Spring" have faded. Violence in Egypt and elsewhere is rampant, politics are broken and economies are in shambles. What the region desperately needs is a successful example of disparate communities working together to defeat terrorists, reduce violence, establish tolerant and inclusive politics, and generate jobs and a growing economy. If it can overcome its current challenges, Iraq can be that example.
 
When it does, it will be building on the efforts of American men and women who served in Iraq. Debates about the origin and conduct of the Iraq war will go on. But Americans who served there can be proud of their service: toppling a brutal dictator, defeating al Qaeda in Iraq in 2007-08, and giving the Iraqi people a chance to build a nation unique in the history of Iraq and the Middle East. Washington and its allies must do all they can to make sure that this opportunity is not squandered.