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In December 2011, the last American combat troops left Iraq. The Obama administration celebrated the withdrawal as the completion of a campaign promise to end the Iraq war. Fewer than three years later, the same administration returned the U.S. to war in Iraq to fight ISIS and then extended the war into Syria. In his new report, Decisionmaking in the Counter-ISIS War, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ Senior Policy Analyst David Sterman examines how the United States returned to war in Iraq, the role of preventive war logic in that decision, and what lessons the counter-ISIS war holds for efforts to end America’s seemingly endless counter-terrorism wars.

To discuss the report, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ welcomes Dr. Joshua Geltzer, a ¹ú²úÊÓƵ International Security program fellow and former senior director for counter-terrorism at the National Security Council, and Dr. Alexandra Stark, senior researcher with ¹ú²úÊÓƵ’s Political Reform program. Dr. Stark holds a PhD from the government department at Georgetown University. She was previously a research fellow at the Middle East Initiative of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and Minerva/Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar at the United States Institute of Peace.

Participants:

David Sterman,
Author, Decisionmaking in the Counter-ISIS War
Senior Policy Analyst, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ International Security program

Dr. Joshua Geltzer,
Fellow, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ International Security program
Former Senior Director for Counter-Terrorism, National Security Council

Dr. Alexandra Stark
Senior Researcher, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ Political Reform program

Moderator:

Melissa Salyk-Virk
Senior Policy Analyst, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ International Security program