“Iraq After America: Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance,” with Col. Joel Rayburn interviewed by Peter L. Bergen

More than a decade after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, most studies of the conflict focus on the twin questions of whether the United States should have entered the country in 2003 and whether it should have exited in 2011, but few have examined the new Iraqi state and society on its own merits. This is especially disconcerting in light of the recent crisis with the Islamic State.