TY - BOOK ID - 127031964 TI - The legacy of Iraq : from the 2003 War to the "Islamic State" PY - 2016 SN - 1474417914 9781474417914 PB - Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press in association with The Aga Khan University, DB - UniCat KW - Iraq War, 2003-2011 KW - Democratization KW - Islam and politics KW - United States KW - Iraq UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:127031964 AB - In March 2003, a US-led "Coalition of the Willing' launched a pre-emptive intervention against Iraq. The nine long years of military occupation that followed saw an ambitious project to turn Iraq into a liberal democracy, underpinned by free-market capitalism and constituted by a citizen body free to live in peace and prosperity. However, the Iraq war did not go to plan and the coalition were forced to withdraw all combat troops at the end of 2011, having failed to deliver on their promise of a democratic, peaceful and prosperous Iraq. This text seeks not only to reflect on this abject failure but to put forth the argument that key decisions and errors of judgment on the part of the coalition and the Iraqi political elite set in train a sequence of events that have had devastating consequences for Iraq, for the region and for the world. -- cover ER -