The Iraq War, 20 Years Later: What Went Wrong? (Col. Darren Duke, USMC (ret.))

The invasion of Iraq on March 30, 2003, initiated a sea change in U.S. foreign policy. In this first episode of season 2, Robert sits down with Darren Duke, a retired U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer who was on the ground and saw the War in Iraq firsthand. In a wide-ranging conversation, Darren reflects on the civilizational barriers of American soldiers fighting an Islamic insurgency, struggling to make sense of the cultural limits on their mission. Together, Robert and Darren reflect on the legacy of Iraq 20 years on. 

Darren Duke is a non-resident Senior Research Fellow at The Philos Project. He is currently a graduate student studying Semitic languages at The Catholic University of America. Prior, Darren spent 30 years as a Marine Corps officer, serving in both military and diplomatic assignments in the Near East, Africa, and the Far East. He served as a military attaché to Israel during the Second Lebanon War (2006) and later as a member of the U.S. Roadmap for Peace security sector negotiating team (2008-2009). He also led a U.S. special operations task force in support of African Union counter-insurgency operations against the Lord's Resistance Army in 2014-2015. He holds a BS in Political Science from the U.S. Naval Academy and a MA in National Security Studies from the Naval.