by the Economist

About the author: The Economist is a weekly newspaper that provides analysis of world business and current affairs.

There are many good arguments against war, but high among them is its ability to bring surprises, many of them unpleasant. The second Iraq war was no exception to that, though it may have been unusual in bringing surprises both to those who were in favour of it and to those against.

Many advocates of the war were surprised by how rapidly it was won, by how few casualties were caused among both soldiers and civilians, by the fact that no biological or chemical weapons were used by Saddam Hussein and, most controversially, by the fact that no stockpiles of such weapons have yet been found in Iraq. Advocates...