NPR: Taking Issue... Iraq: A Look Ahead

Iraq Two Years Later: Taking Stock

NPR.org, March 14, 2005 · The war in Iraq enters its third year on March 20, 2005. Over the previous two years, a free election was held in Iraq; Saddam Hussein was imprisoned; and more than 1,500 Americans died. With 135,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq and a rife debate over whether to even consider a timetable for withdrawal, NPR.org asked experts from a variety of fields and perspectives to consider the situation in Iraq today and what it suggests about where the country will be a year from now.

U.S. Caught in the Crossfire

Juan Cole

"Two years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the guerrilla war waxes and wanes but gives no sign of ending soon."

Juan Cole is a professor of modern Middle Eastern and North African studies at the University of Michigan. He maintains a blog on Middle East affairs called Informed Comment.

Repression
Is the Result

Shibley Telhami

"The modest promise of future change has been outweighed in most minds by a more repressive reality in the Middle East."

Shibley Telhami is Anwar Sadat professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland, College Park, and is a senior fellow at the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution.

Declaring Their Imaginations

Heather Coyne

"While much of the world debates whether Iraq is on the verge of a civil war or a new dictatorship, many Iraqis are making plans for a democratic future."

Heather Coyne is working in Iraq for the United States Institute of Peace, an independent, nonpartisan federal institution. She previously served 15 months in Iraq as a U.S. Army Reserve civil affairs officer.

It Was
Worth a War

Ralph Peters

"What President Bush undertook was more difficult than he imagined, but the world can be grateful that he rejected traditional diplomacy and acted."

Ralph Peters, a retired Army officer, is the author of Beyond Baghdad: Postmodern War and Peace.

A Battle in a Larger War

Frank Gaffney

"The stakes extend far beyond the struggle to consolidate the liberation of the long suffering Iraqi people."

Frank J. Gaffney held senior positions in the Reagan Defense Department. He is currently president of the Center for Security Policy in Washington.

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