1116 ★ CHAPTER 28 A New Century and New Crises
attention from its real foe, Al Qaeda, which remained capable of launching
terrorist attacks. They insisted that the United States could not unilaterally
transform the Middle East into a bastion of democracy, as the administration
claimed was its long- term aim.
The decision to begin the Iraq War split the Western alliance and inspired a
massive antiwar movement throughout the world. In February 2003, between
10 million and 15 million people across the globe demonstrated against the
impending war. There were large- scale protests in the United States, which
brought together veterans of the antiwar movement during the Vietnam era
and a diverse group of young activists united in the belief that launching a war
against a nation because it might pose a security threat in the future violated
international law and the UN Charter.
Both traditional foes of the United States like Russia and China and tradi-
tional allies like Germany and France refused to support a “preemptive” strike
against Iraq. Unable to obtain approval from the United Nations for attacking
Iraq, the United States went to war anyway in March 2003, with Great Britain
as its sole significant ally. President Bush called the war “Operation Iraqi Free-
dom.” Its purpose, he declared, was to “defend our freedom” and “bring freedom
to others.” The Hussein regime proved no match for the American armed
forces, with their precision bombing, satellite- guided missiles, and well- trained
soldiers. Within a month, American troops occupied Baghdad. After hiding
out for several months, Hussein was captured by American forces and subse-
quently put on trial before an Iraqi court. Late in 2006, he was found guilty of
ordering the killing of many Iraqis during his reign, and was sentenced to death
and executed.
Another Vietnam?
Soon after the fall of Baghdad, a triumphant President Bush appeared on the
deck of an aircraft carrier beneath a banner reading “Mission Accomplished.”
But after the fall of Hussein, everything seemed to go wrong. Rather than
parades welcoming American liberators, looting and chaos followed the fall
of the Iraqi regime. An insurgency quickly developed that targeted Ameri-
can soldiers and Iraqis cooperating with them. Sectarian violence soon swept
throughout Iraq, with militias of Shiite and Sunni Muslims fighting each other.
(Under Hussein, Sunnis, a minority of Iraq’s population, had dominated the
government and army; now, the Shiite majority sought to exercise power and
exact revenge.) Despite holding a number of elections in Iraq, the United States
found it impossible to create an Iraqi government strong enough to impose
order on the country.
With no end in sight to the conflict, comparisons with the American expe-
rience in Vietnam became commonplace. In both wars, American policy was