George Bush Was Not A Good President

 Paul Campos lays out the similarities and differences between the US invasion of Iraq and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Internet punditry can quickly degenerate into "hot takes" and "clickbait" and Campos does a good job pointing out that the US invasion of Iraq does not rise to the level of rank criminality that Putin's invasion does. 

Still, the invasion of Iraq remains arguably the worst foreign policy blunder in American history. There are really on two other contenders, so let's dismiss them.

First, America rejects the League of Nations. There is a revisionist history where American joins the League and this somehow prevents World War II. This seems highly unlikely, as the League wasn't really strong enough to prevent wars, even small wars. The UN has been much more successful, but the rise of superpowers like the US and USSR seem to be much more important. It's more a Pax Americana than a Pax UN.

Second, Vietnam. There is little doubt that Vietnam was a worse catastrophe - in terms of human lives butchered and ended - than Iraq. In all metrics - US lives lost, indigenous lives lost, war crimes committed, treasure sunk - Vietnam outstrips Iraq by miles. However, Vietnam was the trap of containment. While containment largely worked to prevent Soviet adventurism in Europe, applying it to nationalistic, anti-imperial struggles was flawed to say the least. While the "domino theory" was wrong, to someone looking at the recent histories of the People's Republic of China, the Korean War and the defiance of Taiwan, there was at least a plausible case that the US could hold the line in Vietnam. It was wrong, but plausible.

The casus belli for Iraq was utter, transparent bullshit. The clearest articulation was Tom Friedman's loathsome comment about taking a small country and throwing it up against a wall. This was the panicked thrashing of a wounded animal after 9/11. More so that Vietnam, Iraq was a war of pure choice. 

So, while Vietnam remains a more tragic and damaging event in American and world history, Iraq was a bigger blunder, because it was such a transparent "own goal."

(There is case to be made to add America's true "forgotten war" against the Philippines to the list of blunders, but I'll let it pass.)

George Bush was not the evil figure that Vladimir Putin is. There is a glimmer of hope that Iraq may one day become a relatively stable democracy. In fact, Iraq's Freedom House score is among the highest in Southwest Asia. (Iraq's score is 29, which is not good, but only Jordan, Kuwait and Lebanon score higher in the Arab world until you go far enough west to hit Tunisia. In fact, Iraq's score is higher than...Vietnam's.) 

However, the rank stupidity of the Iraq war remains a glaring example of myopic American foreign policy. If there is one comment that unifies both the US invasion of Iraq and the Russian invasion of Ukraine it would be "It was worse than a crime, it was a mistake."