On the 16th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, Barbara Leaf, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and Ellen Laipson, Professor and Director of the Center for Security Policy Studies at George Mason University, join host Carol Castiel to give an update on Iraq and Syria including the implications of Iran’s growing influence in those countries. They also discuss how US policy in both Iraq and Syria may have inadvertently strengthened rather than weakened the Islamic Republic.