BAGHDAD, IRAQ — In just the last two years, Baghdad has transformed. Traffic flows unimpeded through the former Green Zone. A new highway abuts the Tigris River in the heart of the city. Overpasses and elevated highways now cross Baghdad’s infamous traffic circles. The multibillion-dollar U.S. Embassy once dominated the shore of the Tigris River; now high-rise apartments dwarf it. Big name hotels — the Movenpick, the Rixos — are nearing completion and will soon cater to the hundreds of businessmen coming through Baghdad daily for their share of the deals the country is looking to sign.

In Washington, partisans and pundits see President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq as original sin, the marquee example of forever war that both Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump promised to end; Iraqis have a more nuanced take.