Post-Invasion Issues in Iraq

Video Transcript

(Note: This transcript has been edited for readability.)

"When we went into Iraq in 2003 because we fired all the Ba’ath Party workers, because we dismissed the government, because we dismissed the military, because we dismissed an entire system that like it or not, had been making things work, maybe not fairly, but the trash was getting picked up, the kids were going to school, there was law and order, although tainted from what we recognize. When all that went away in 2003 and 2004, the Iraqis looked at us and said 'Okay, well now that that system’s gone, you provide all that to us. You make sure that the lights are on. You make sure that the roads are clear.' We did not understand fully what that meant at the time."

In this video, a military service member discusses the effects of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.