More than 20 years since the United States launched its invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the origins of the war remain highly contested, both among scholars and policy practitioners alike. As tensions continue to flare in the region and thousands of U.S. troops continue to deploy to military bases within Iraq, understanding the history of U.S. involvement in this country is critical for understanding the United States’s role in the modern Middle East. Joining This episode of The Debrief analyzes the causes and consequences of the Iraq War with Dr. Joseph Stieb, assistant professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College and author of The Regime Change Consensus: Iraq in American Politics, 1990 to 2003.

About the Speaker:

Joseph Stieb joined the U.S. Naval War College in 2022 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at The Ohio State University’s Mershon Center for International Security Studies. He received a Ph.D. in U.S. history from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2019. He studies U.S. foreign policy, politics, and ideas in the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly the Iraq War and the War on Terrorism. He is the author of The Regime Change Consensus: Iraq in American Politics, 1990-2003 (Cambridge, 2021) and has also published in Diplomatic History, Modern American History, The International History Review, The Washington Post, War on the Rocks, Foreign Policy, American Purpose, and Arc Digital.

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.