“The Long War”—Afghanistan Redux and the Iraq Catastrophe

Empire of Liberty: America's Foreign Entanglements from the Founders to the Forever Wars Ep. 15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTYF3ZcKsq8

Episode 15 examines the post-9/11 wars as the culmination of the patterns traced throughout this series. The episode documents the AUMF as a blank check for permanent war, the WMD deception that justified the Iraq invasion, de-Baathification and military dissolution as the seeds of catastrophe, the creation of ISIS as a direct consequence of American policy, the Afghanistan Papers’ revelation of systematic deception, and the absolute absence of accountability for the officials who designed and promoted these wars. This episode includes a special call-to-action at the end for an end to ignorance and apathy by the voter.