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
First, they dismantled the existing government and made little effort to build up something with which to replace it. One of the more infamous pre-war propaganda efforts was that an obscure organization (I forget its name) was portrayed by the US as if it represented a broad opposition movement that was all ready to take over as soon as Saddam Hussein was gone. In fact, this organization had no influence and was completely ignored once the US had taken over. The US and its allies put very little money into planning what would happen after they conquered Iraq – there was one story that someone visited an office responsible for this and was shocked to find only a few people sat around a table designing a new Iraqi flag.
Second, the process of invading Iraq inevitably killed many people and damaged a great deal of infrastructure, which created resentment and disrupted people’s lives and the economy.
Third, the fact that there was so little international support for the invasion meant that many countries and international bodies were hesitant to assist the new government (which was widely seen as a puppet of the US) or were actively hostile to it.
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