Are We Going to Win the

Iraq War?
By Samuel Reddick
 OIF: The Mission
 Topple the Ba’ath Party Regime.

 Capture Saddam Hussein.

 Find the Weapons of Mass Destruction

(WMD).

 Create a stable and friendly democracy in

Iraq.
 The Invasion
 Goal: Topple the Ba’ath Regime.

 Results: Light U.S. casualties,

decimation of the Iraqi military, and
the collapse of Saddam’s regime. No
WMD found. U.S. and Coalition
victory.
 Capturing Saddam

 After the Coalition traps and kills Saddam’s sons,

Uday and Qusay, they face the daunting task of
finding the man who some think is dead.
 The joint Special Operations Task Force, TF-121, is
sent in to capture him.
 On December 13th , 2004, Saddam Hussein was
captured and handed over to the Iraqis.
 He was executed December 30th , 2006.
 From Saddam’s Capture on, the only remaining
mission is to stabilize Iraq. This will meet two key
threats.
 The Insurgency
 The Key Players:
• Ba’athists who want their
power back. They pose a
small threat as they are
very unpopular.
• Iranian funded cells who
don’t want Iraq to be a
democratic nation.
• Al-Qaeda terrorist and
other terrorist groups who
see Iraq as an opportunity
to attack the US directly
and indirectly.
 Sectarian Violence

 Al-Qaeda soon realizes the best way

to damage the Coalition’s mission of
stabilizing Iraq is to start a civil war.
 This has become the biggest political
threat to the new Iraq and continues
to this very day.
 Coalition Response
 The Coalition occupation turns bloody and
to establishing a new Iraqi state, they
must combat the insurgents.
 The Coalition tries many strategies
including a troop “surge” which proves the
most successful.
 Conclusion
 Of the Coalitions four main goals, they have accomplished all but
one, the stabilization of Iraq.
• The problem is, the Coalition can only assist, but it is the Iraqis who
must build and protect their new country.
 Even if Iraq stabilizes, we really didn’t gain much from this war in
the first place.
• We aren’t any richer, safer, or more popular that we were before
March 2003.
• The war may have done more to damage the Middle-East than help it.
 In the end, as with Vietnam, there will be no clear victor until the
last U.S. aircraft leaves and the dust settles. It seems that what
George Ball said in the 60’s holds true even today, “Once on the
tiger’s back we cannot be sure of picking the place to dismount”.
It’s at this stage, all about timing.