Liberate and Leave: Fatal Flaws in the Early Strategy for Postwar Iraq

If you were to talk to those who experienced the Iraq War from the inside, the word you might hear most often is “surreal.” Don Eberly, a senior official at USAID during the lead-up to the war, was recruited to serve on a post-war civil administration team, and his two years of service spanned all phases of the operation. He was, in fact, the first American civilian to make his way into Baghdad city hall after the occupation.

From that up-close perspective Eberly describes what happened in a...