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?
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Iraq had some form of governance and a system of authority. It may not resemble the US’ nor were they going to really ever see eye to eye on many issues. The US successfully overthrew the government and wanted to (giving the US the benefit of the doubt) install a new one that was “better”.
However, the execution was really bad. There are many many points to this and a comment won’t do it justice (you’re warned – this is ELI5). The initial US Army administration in Iraq wanted to “use” the existing power structure (Iraqi army and the Baath party) to try to restore order and a semblance of government. This had the advantage that these folks were experienced and were embedded in Iraqi society (for better or worse).
Unfortunately the army was replaced by a civilian administrator (Paul Bremer?) who approached this perhaps more idealistically. Basically he banned all former Baath (former ruling party) members from holding political office and any formal civil authority. Then he fired the Iraqi army. This naturally brought about a huge amount of resentment and chaos. Like it or not, the Baath party members knew how things worked in Iraq and putting several hundred thousand (youngish) men who used to be soldiers on the street without much legal means to support themselves led to a quite foreseeable outcome. They went underground, supported Al-Qaeda, and fomented insurrection and crime.
It was clear that the US wasn’t going to administer Iraq for the next 50 years while these guys aged and died. So Iran stepped into the background, started working their influence and here we are. A weak Iraqi government and society, riddled with discontent and Iranian influence.
Now the Middle East had many other actors with their own age old issues and enemies. So it is likely not fair to say that Iraq was the center of all Middle Eastern problems. But lets say that the US wasn’t exactly very wise in their actions. Regime change and rebuilding a society on very different principles is the work of a lifetime (or two).
US domestic politics also plays a huge role. If the US bit the bullet and declared “yep, we’re a colonial power now” and stayed on for another half century, there is a chance that this would have worked. But there was no chance that the US had the political will to do this nor would the US want to pay that amount of international diplomatic cost to do so.
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