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Events • April 24, 2019 

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

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*](https://www.amazon.com/Blunder-Britains-Iraq-Patrick-Porter/dp/0198807961?tag=catoinstitute-20), and Michael Mazarr, author of [*Leap of Faith: Hubris, Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy Tragedy*](https://www.amazon.com/Leap-Faith-Negligence-Americas-Greatest/dp/1541768361/?tag=catoinstitute-20), 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.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

[![patrick-porter-cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2022-07/patrick-porter-cropped.jpg?itok=UQCD3xvR)](/people/patrick-porter) 

##### [Patrick Porter](/people/patrick-porter)

Professor, University of Birmingham

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](https://twitter.com/PatPorter76) 

##### Michael Mazarr 

##### Colonel Lawrence B. Wilkerson (Ret.) 

[![Media Name: preble.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/authors/crops/preble.jpg?itok=2y52zSuL)](/people/christopher-preble) 

##### [Christopher A. Preble](/people/christopher-preble)

Former Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies; Senior Fellow, Stimson Center 

[ 

](https://twitter.com/capreble)