lol- if I go into postwar Iraq, my pessimism comes through. Assuming WMD aren’t found
1) Iran and Syria become insecure with regards to the American troops posted on their doorstep
2) Someone has to pay for the war- chances are it’ll be the Iraqi people. Reparations didn’t do postwar germany (WWI) any good. Iraq may come to hate its so called liberators as well. After all, despite the oil and relative wealth of Saddam, Iraq is a 3rd world country- and reparations could cost Iraq dearly. Iraq stays broke, the people get enlisted as terrorists by slightly wealtier nations in the gulf region not due to religion, but simply due to the benifits money can provide to them and their families in a poverty stricken country.
3) Rise of pan-arabism unifying the arab states in resentment of the States operating in a region that ‘should have been left alone’
4) UN shown to be weak, and more easily bypassed in future conflicts (I still see America going to war with Iran in the next few years)
5) Division of NATO- France and Germany wanting a separate european army to offset American and British dominance at the mo. Distrust and petty infigting—-> what was the cold war about anyway? Arabic countries building their own forces and preparing for Israel and America.
There’s more, but I’m getting hungry
-Later