More than a decade after the US-led invasion of Iraq, most studies of the Iraq conflict focus on the twin questions of whether the United States should have entered Iraq in 2003 and whether it should have exited in 2011, but few have examined the new Iraqi state and society on its own merits. In this lecture, Joel Rayburn presents his book Iraq After America: Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance, in which he examines the government and the sectarian and secular factions that have emerged in Iraq since the US invasion of 2003, presenting the interrelations among the various elements in the Iraqi political scene. Tracing the origins of key trends in recent Iraqi history to explain the political and social forces that produced them, particularly during the intense period of civil war between 2003 and 2009, he looks at some of the most significant players in the new Iraq, explaining how they have risen to prominence and what their aims are.
Event Details
Speaker: Colonel Joel Rayburn, National Defense University
Chair: Professor Toby Dodge, LSE
Date: Tuesday 17 February 2015
Time: 18.30-20.00
Location: Wolfson Theatre, Lower Ground Floor, New Academic Building
Event Hashtag: #LSERayburn
Attendance: This event is free and open to all on a first come first served basis. Our events are very well attended, please make sure to arrive early. We cannot guarantee entry.
Speaker
Colonel Joel Rayburn is Senior Military Fellow at the National Defense University in Washington, DC, where he leads a research team focusing on Iraq. He is a US Army intelligence officer with 22 years of experience in national security issues, and from 2007 to 2010 he served as an advisor to General David Petraeus in Iraq, Afghanistan, and US Central Command. He is also a contributor to the Hoover Institution Working Group on Islamism and the International Order.