Loosing soft power in hard places: humanitarianism after the US invasion of Iraq

The US choice of a misdirected target of priority concern, a War on Terror, combined with the use of hard power to the absolute detriment of soft power has undermined the enlightenment values that had begun to flourish in the form of humanitarian policies, values and laws which could have informed international cooperation and development in the twenty-first century. The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 has had serious implications for humanitarianism worldwide, has provided a huge propaganda victory to Islamic extremists, and has diverted international attention and resources from major humanitarian emergencies elsewhere and from todays most significant threat to human survival, global climate change.