978-1-4222-3442-6

Two Iraqi boys pose beside a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein, April 14, 2003. Iraq’s emer- gence from 24 years of ruthless rule under Saddam presented exciting possibilities—but also significant challenges.

Foreign Relations

I n early April 2003, after just a few weeks of fighting, U.S. Marines helped a crowd of cheering Iraqis topple an enormous statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. To many people around the world, this scene was a symbol of the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime. “Regime change” in Iraq had been a long-standing goal of President George W. Bush. Bush administration officials and their supporters expressed the hope that if Saddam’s dictatorship fell, the United States could help build Iraq into a democracy—the first real democracy among the Arab states. And a successful, demo- cratic Iraq, U.S. leaders said openly, might serve as a model for other Arab societies. The early plan for postwar Iraq was for the creation of an inter- im government consisting of a council of leaders (numbering per- haps eight or nine) from various Iraqi groups. Under U.S. direction, this interim government would allow the country to function while

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