Anniversaries of wars are difficult moments to commemorate. Journalists and analysts pore over what has happened since the war began, diplomats and politicians reflect on how it bolstered or hurt their careers, and historians begin to consider when the right moment would come up to write a book chronicling it.
This month, marking the 20-year anniversary of the 2003 war in Iraq, much is being written and said: how the war changed Iraq, how it impacted the United States’ place in the world, and how it led to an undermining of the international order. It is also a moment to laud some of the few but important successes of the country, such as the political pluralism that has developed there and Iraq’s global opening after years of sanctions and war made it largely off-limits.
