Its been written down in history as a gigantic failure; this era’s Vietnam. But as far as post WWII US invasions go, it met its goals in the end. Even if it tanked the reputations of everyone involved. A flat tax and foreign private interest rights remain ensrined in the Iraqi constitution. And its just democratic enough to earnestly tell the US to fuck off but not sovereign enough to ever make them.

This is strictly in comparison to other US invasions. Compared to Vietnam, Korea, and Afghanistan its was an actual - if only marginal - success. You have to reach into all the minor, “light touch”, interventions to find something more successful.

Anyways I’m not trying to be like “the Iraq War was good, actually”. Its just had this reputation of being the “dumb war” compared to Afghanistan. But after the US flat out gave Afghanistan back to the Taliban, we should reevaluate its position in US interventions and recognize how many are total abject failures.