Containment, Not Appeasement

Despite substantial opposition both in the US and around the globe, the Bush administration resisted containment of Saddam Hussein and led the invasion of Iraq. Struggling to control the nation almost four years later, the US president resists diplomacy with characters who happen to be neighbors to Iraq. Containment is not appeasement, argues Yale political science professor Ian Shapiro. If the US had continued a policy of containment against Iraq, the result would have been relative stability in the region, with minimal costs, leaders wary of global attention and citizens who demanded economic security and political freedom. “When containment has been abandoned, America has paid a high price,” Shapiro writes, noting that the war in Vietnam was “America’s costliest departure from containment.” Containment is patience and confidence that justice and integrity can win over corruption and cruelty. The Iraq war has stirred extremism and anti-Americanism, and the US must work harder than ever before, relying on diplomacy, to regain trust and credibility in the region. – YaleGlobal