Part 13: The Unravelling
Listen now
Description
The BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen reflects on what went wrong as Iraq descended into chaos in the months after the US invasion in 2003. "Before the invasion," he says "an advisor to the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had predicted that Iraq was going to be a 'cakewalk'. The American soldiers were finding out how wrong he had been." The people around George W Bush who had pushed hardest for regime change wouldn't listen to repeated warnings, he says. "These days there is plenty of nostalgia in Iraq for life under Saddam Hussein." Bowen has been reporting from the region for more than a quarter of a century. In this series, he combines first-hand accounts from the front line with an in-depth look into the region's history. He has witnessed endless wars between individuals, religious groups and full-sized states, jostling for military, political and economic Additional recordings courtesy of Hugh Sykes. Produced by Mark Savage and Cara Swift.
More Episodes
Jeremy Bowen explores Gaza, the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement. It's not a place you would chose for a Mediterranean holiday, though the Palestinians used to dream of developing a tourist industry, he says. "Israel could recapture Gaza in days if it...
Published 07/17/17
Jeremy Bowen looks at some of the lessons of the past 25 years to find out what happens next in the Middle East. "Millions of lucky Europeans sun themselves on Mediterranean beaches this summer," he says. "None of us can afford to ignore what is happening just beyond the horizon, in the Middle...
Published 06/30/17
BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen looks back on the rise and fall of the Islamic State group. "It looks now as if the battle against the jihadists of Islamic State is being won, they made the mistake of uniting their enemies against them," he says. But "their defeat will not be the end of the...
Published 06/29/17