Eli5: how did America actually destabilize the Middle East in the Iraq war? What was done specifically that caused all of the chaos in the countries we were involved in?

Question

Eli5: how did America actually destabilize the Middle East in the Iraq war? What was done specifically that caused all of the chaos in the countries we were involved in?

In: 185

Answer 1

frankly the middle east was pretty “Destabalized” before the war

the single biggest fuckup was the Americans refusing to have anything but a puppet state. There were more moderate baathists willing to play ball and keep the state apparatus intact, the US smashed it over their knees and send hundreds of thousands of young men with military training (who still often had their weapons!) into unemployment