VIOLENT, DIVIDED, BUT HOPEFUL
AMERICA LOWERS THE FLAG
TOXIC LEGACY OF US ASSAULT ON FALLUJAH
US UNABLE TO ACCOUNT FOR BILLIONS OF IRAQ OIL MONEY
GRIM STABILITY IS THE US LEGACY
ECHOS OF EL SALVADOR IN TALES OF US APPROVED DEATH SQUADS
THE US WITHDRAWS (2011)
BEWARE YOUR ENEMY’S STUPIDITY
CAN WE EVER BE TRULY SAFE FROM TERRORISM?
BIN LADEN WAS THE REASON WE WENT TO WAR, RIGHT?
AMERICA SILENCES A KEY AL-QA’IDA PROPAGANDIST
ARAB AWAKENING WILL NOT SUCCEED EAST OF EGYPT
FALL OF LIBYA WAS A PIECE OF CAKE COMPARED TO SYRIA
IRAQ GETS READY FOR LIFE AFTER AMERICA
‘GREATEST STRATEGIC DISASTER’ (2012)
IS THIS THE FINAL DISINTEGRATION OF IRAQ?
IRAN INCREASES HOLD IN IRAQ
WHAT NEXT FOR AL-QA’IDA?
AMERICAN MIDDLE EAST INFLUENCE IS PAST ITS PEAK
A NATION IN CRISIS (2013)
DISINTEGRATING AS A COUNTRY
CITY OF CORRUPTION
THE SUNNI RISE AGAIN
THE SHIA ARE IN OFFICE BUT NOT IN POWER
IRAQ’S KURDS STRIKE IT RICH
A DISASTER WAITING TO REPEAT ITSELF
CONFRONTING ISIS (2014)
ANARCHY IN IRAQ
IRAN MAKES ITS MOVE
HOW SAUDIS HELPED ISIS TAKE OVER NORTHERN IRAQ
OBAMA SENDS BOMBERS INTO IRAQ
SUNNIS AND KURDS REJOICE AS HATED AL-MALAKI RESIGNS
AIR POWER IS NOT ENOUGH TO WIN THIS WAR
THE LAST CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ
IRAN JOINS THE ‘GREAT SATAN’S’ WAR ON ISIS
THE WEST NEEDS MORE THAN A WHITE KNIGHT
FROM HOPE TO HORROR (2015)
WRONG AGAIN IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TERROR
ISIS: ONE YEAR ON
WHO IS STRONG ENOUGH TO FIGHT ISIS?
ARE DRONE EXECUTIONS WORKING?
NATIONAL LOYALTY IS IN RUINS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA
ON THE MIDDLE EAST, DONALD HAS IT RIGHT
HILLARY CLINTON IS GUILTY, BUT NOT AS CHARGED
A NEW TYPE OF WARFARE
THE PARTITION OF THE MIDDLE EAST
CONSTANT CYCLE OF VIOLENCE (2016)
ISIS BOMBS
ISIS CAN ONLY BE CRUSHED IN IRAQ IF DEFEATED IN SYRIA
LACK OF OIL REVENUE MAY RUIN IRAQ BEFORE ISIS
MEDIA COVERAGE IS MASKING DISASTEROUS POLICIES
CORRUPTION PAVED THE WAY FOR ISIS
SHAKING THE FOUNDATIONS OF IRAQ’S GOVERNMENT
AFTERWORD
CHILCOT INQUIRY SUMS IT UP
PHOTO CAPTIONS AND COPYRIGHTS
FOREWORD
It is over 13 years since the start of the war in Iraq which led to the toppling of Saddam Hussein. The diplomatic map of the world has been redrawn as a consequence. Inquiry after inquiry has studied the legality of the conflict. Political reputations have been made and lost. But what of Iraq itself and the rest of the Middle East? What has been the impact of the West on Iraq and the region as a whole? Who have been the winners? Who have been the losers? In what direction is the region headed?
A remarkable feature of the wider Middle East over the past 15 years has been that the most radical instruments of change have been the US and its allies, such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies, which should have had the greatest interest in maintaining the status quo.
Provoked by 9/11, a US-led coalition overthrew the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 and Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003. The West had disposed of two of Iran’s worst enemies without Iran having to lift a finger.
In 2011 the West, led by the US and Sunni states, saw the uprisings in the Arab world as a chance to get rid of regimes with whom they were at odds. The war in Syria was an opportunity to weaken Iran by eliminating its biggest ally in the Arab world. Instead the war, and likewise the one in Yemen, may end up doing more damage to Iran's rivals such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Gulf monarchies.
Patrick Cockburn, The Independent's internationally acclaimed foreign correspondent and 2015 British Foreign Affairs Journalist of the Year, has analyzed and reported extensively on the Middle East and Saddam's former empire in hundreds of articles since 2001. The best of Patrick Cockburn’s analysis and commentary is compiled in this book, providing first-hand insight into what is really happening in this critical region of our world.
MESSING-UP THE MIDDLE EAST (2003-2006)
USS Abraham Lincoln, site of President Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech on 1 May 2003
Thursday, 24 July 2003
CHAOS AND RAGE
There used to be a mosaic of President George H W Bush on the floor at the entrance to the al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad. It was placed there soon after the first Gulf War in 1991 and was a good likeness, though the artist gave Bush unnaturally jagged teeth and a slightly sinister grimace. The idea was that nobody would be able to get into the hotel, where most foreign visitors to Iraq stayed in the 1990s, without stepping on Bush's face. The mosaic did not long survive the capture of the city on
