The ghost of Saddam still haunts Washington, 10 years after Iraqi tyrant’s execution

Ten years after Saddam Hussein’s execution, the ghost of the Iraqi strongman still haunts America, serving as a potent reminder of its broken ambitions to bring stability and democracy to the Middle East.

When Saddam was hanged in Baghdad on December 30, 2007, then US president George W. Bush already knew that the invasion of Iraq, which had already left 3,000 US forces dead, had not yielded the progress Washington sought.

“Many difficult choices and further sacrifices lie ahead. Yet the safety and security of the American people require that we not relent in ensuring that Iraq’s young democracy continues to progress,” Bush said at the time.

The democratic Iraq that Bush had envisioned turned out to be little more than a pipe dream, with the Americans failing to stop the deadly spiral of sectarian violence in the country.

The Sunni minority that once ruled Iraq grew increasingly resentful toward a predominantly Shiite government - a resentment that helped fuel the rise of the ultra-radical Islamic State group that counts former Saddam military officials in its ranks.

More than 5,000 US soldiers are still on the ground providing critical support to an Iraqi army still unable to alone man a war against the violent extremist fighters.