Left: President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office, May 21, 2026. Right: Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 1, 2026.(Kevin Lamarque, Stringer/Reuters)
The regime proved more resilient and resourceful than anticipated, and the Trump administration is dealing with the consequences.
A little over 24 years ago, Ken Adelman, a former assistant to then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, took to the pages of the Washington Post to explain how easy it would be to knock over Iraq. “I believe demolishing Hussein's military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk,” he wrote.
Readers may be surprised to see me say: He was right. On the fundamental question of beating Hussein’s regime, he was correct that since 1991 Iraq had become weaker, we had become stronger, and we would not suffer serious casualties bringing down the regime.
It’s what came after that was difficult: ...
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