The Iraq War Was a Necessary Evil
Iraqis are freer now than they would have been without us.
Listen & Subscribe
Choose your preferred player:
Get Your Slate Plus Podcast
If you can't access your feeds, please contact customer support.
Listen on your computer:
Apple Podcasts will only work on MacOS operating systems since Catalina. We do not support Android apps on desktop at this time.
Listen on your device:RECOMMENDED
These links will only work if you're on the device you listen to podcasts on.
Set up manually:
Episode Notes
On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… Mission Accomplished?
This year marks the 20th anniversary of then-President Bush’s infamous address aboard an aircraft carrier declaring that the war had been won and Iraqis were free.
We know now, of course, that the war had not been won—and in 2003, it was far from over. Many thousands of lives were lost. With the gift of hindsight, can we see the war as anything other than a costly mistake?
Iraqi-American and president of Ideas Beyond Borders Faisal Saeed Al Mutar joins Celeste to argue that the war, while mismanaged, was a victory—and that the alternatives could have been far, far worse.
If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can now email the show: hearmeout@slate.com
Podcast production by Maura Currie