Be Careful What You Hope For: The Consequences of Invading Iraq

Abstract

When leaders speak of war in public, they tend to view it as an event with a discrete beginning and an end. Their pronouncements have a clear political purpose—without an end point in sight demarcated by the fulfilling of a specific set of objectives, the public would be disposed to question the war’s rationale. But when does a war actually end? How does one determine whether the intended objectives have been fulfilled?

I believe we’re overextended in too many places. […] If we don’t stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we’re going to have a serious problem coming down the road.

—Governor George W. Bush¹