by Bryane Michael

About the author: Bryane Michael teaches economics and management at Oxford University, United Kingdom.

In March 2003, the United States declared war on Iraq because of Baghdad's refusal to comply with UN [United Nations] weapons inspections. The goal of the war was to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power and precipitate a pro-market, pro-democracy "regime change." The regime did change— Saddam Hussein was replaced by the Coalition Provisional Authority and the recently [in July 2003] installed Governing Council. Supporters of the war in the U.S. government and in the Washington-based conservative think tanks spurred on the Bush administration, arguing for extensive U.S. intervention to establish democracy, the ending of a cycle of poverty engendered by Hussein's antidevelopmental and predatory policies, and the creation...