15 January 2012
“Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.” It was May 1st 2003 when, speaking these words on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, President George W. Bush declared the end of military operations in Iraq and began to talk about security and reconstruction. So-called reconstruction soon revealed its darker aspects: car bombs and sectarian clashes, Abu Ghraib and a still impassable Green Zone surrounded by a T-wall.