Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Columnist

Another Iraq War? Here’s How to Avoid It

January 9, 2014 at 8:45 PM UTC

Meghan L. O’Sullivan is a professor of international affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School and the North American chair of the Trilateral Commission, she served on the National Security Council from 2004 to 2007.

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Many Americans are surprised to see Fallujah back on the front pages of newspapers. How did things get so bad that the Iraqi government was compelled to call for American support in its battle against an al-Qaeda affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria?

This crescendo of violence is the culmination of two well-established trajectories.