US troops patrol Fallujah, Iraq, in 2003 By Tara McKelvey BBC News, Washington 6 November 2013 Last updated at 00:12 “We invaded Iraq to change the way the greater Middle East works,” says Andrew Bacevich. “From that point of view the war is a catastrophic disaster.” Above, US troops patrol Fallujah during a sandstorm in 2005 In September President Barack Obama said, “I was elected to end wars, not start them.” Yet ending wars, as he has discovered, can be as hard as waging them. The former US ambassador to Iraq, James Jeffrey, left Baghdad on a hot day in June 2012. He flew away in a special forces helicopter, as he recalls, and looked down at villas and swimming pools. “It was quiet and peaceful,” he says. He describes his departure as an “emotional” moment – and says that at the time he felt pleased with the outcome […]