Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
Why do the US and Britain still claim the invasion of Iraq was to spread democracy?
The hostility towards elections and democracy by the US-British military administration that brutally overran the nation in 2003 was well documented at the time — as was the mass movement for free elections, writes IAN SINCLAIR
Iraqi men are frisked at gunpoint by soldiers of the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment carrying out vehicle searches for weapons in southern Iraq, October 2004.

A little late to the party, I recently watched Once Upon A Time In Iraq, the BBC’s 2020 five-part documentary series about the US-British invasion and occupation of the Middle East nation.

During the episode about the capture of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in December 2003, the narrator noted: “Though Iraq was still governed by the [US-led] coalition, the intention was to hold democratic elections as soon as possible.”

This fits with the common understanding of the Iraq War amongst the media, academic and political elites. For example, speaking on the BBC News at 10 in 2005, correspondent Paul Wood stated: “The coalition came to Iraq in the first place to bring democracy and human rights.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
IS albums
Album reviews / 6 October 2025
6 October 2025

New releases from Steady Habits, Jeff Tweedy, and Tom Skinner

ai con
Books / 2 October 2025
2 October 2025

IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a lucid critique of a technology that reproduces and enables oppression, power, and environmental devastation

IS
Album reviews / 22 September 2025
22 September 2025

Reviews of new releases by Wednesday, Suede, and Nation of Language

IS 2
Album reviews / 9 September 2025
9 September 2025

Reviews of new releases by Jens Lekman, Big Thief, and Christian McBride Big Band

Similar stories
Features / 16 April 2025
16 April 2025
Despite liberal whining that Trump threatens the ‘international rules-based order,’ the historical record shows Western nations have repeatedly overthrown democracies, backed genocides and violated sovereignty, writes IAN SINCLAIR
ARCHITECTS OF SLAUGHTER : Jonathan Powell (right)and Alastai
Features / 23 November 2024
23 November 2024
The British press has welcomed Keir Starmer’s new National Security Adviser without any mention of his deep, central involvement in the criminal invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan — but history remembers, writes IAN SINCLAIR