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Two Roads to War: How (and Why) America and Britain Decided to Invade Iraq

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Date and Time
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Location
Hayek Auditorium, Cato Institute
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Featuring
Featuring Patrick Porter, Professor of International Security and Strategy, University of Birmingham, and Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute; Michael Mazarr, Senior Political Scientist, RAND Corporation; Colonel Lawrence B. Wilkerson (Ret.), Distinguished Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy, College of William & Mary; moderated by Christopher Preble, Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute.

The disastrous choice to use force to remove Saddam Hussein from power did enormous damage to the wealth, well-being, and reputations of the United States and Great Britain. To this day, the hangover of the Iraq war looms large over the politics of both nations. Yet how each of these “special friends” came to the decision to invade Iraq remains shrouded in mystery and mythology. Until now.

On April 24, Patrick Porter, author of Blunder: Britain’s War in Iraq, and Michael Mazarr, author of Leap of Faith: Hubris, Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy Tragedy, will detail the motivations and ideas that drove two great democracies to a war of choice, and explain the lessons that must be learned to avoid similar disasters — today and in the future.

Please join us for a lively discussion, with lunch to follow.