Linda Robinson
The one certainty about war is its unpredictability. I saw this firsthand in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. In March 2003, after reporting on special operations forces during the major combat phase of operations, I attended a desert ceremony to inaugurate the Iraq Governing Council in a tent next to the imposing Mesopotamian Temple of Ur. The council, composed of expats who had not been to their home country of Iraq for many years, gave me the feeling that the plans for a new government might not materialize. Within the month, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s fedayeen and dismissed soldiers were in a full-blown insurgent mode, punctuated by the bombing of the UN headquarters in Iraq’s capital Baghdad and the death of the UN Special Representative to Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello.
The experience in Iraq, a case study for many in poor handling of regime change and nation building, resonates as the world reacts to the strikes on Iran. Three days into Operation Epic Fury, launched by President Donald Trump to neutralize Iranian threats, the end game plan is unclear and U.S. casualties are beginning to mount. Three U.S. fighter jets were shot down by friendly fire, and luckily their crews were rescued unscathed. But the war has quickly spread, with hundreds of casualties from over a thousand Iranian missiles and drones into ten countries. Lebanon-based Hezbollah, despite its weakened state, launched rockets into Israel.
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