18 - Wilsonian Revolutionaries: The Bush Administration, 2001–2009

Summary

The George W. Bush administration spread democracy via its “Global War on Terror.” After the 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks, the administration fought wars to overthrow totalitarian regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. The same mistakes were made in each: a failure to provide sufficient forces, a failure to plan for the postwar situation, a failure to prevent looting in both capitals, a failure to negotiate a peace with the overthrown regimes. The US waged conventional and counterinsurgency campaigns in each nation. Defeat in Iraq was averted by Bush’s “surge” of additional troops and a Sunni uprising against Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the economy boomed under Bush, until the housing bubble burst in 2008. The greatest global economic crisis since the Great Depression followed.