The nation-state of Iraq was never a particularly good idea, but it plodded along for most of the 20th-Century with a series of kings and dictators at the helm. President George W. Bush killed that Iraq and it cannot be saved no matter what Michael Gerson has to say about it. No, we will not stop pointing the finger of blame at Bush and his bloodthirsty foreign policy team. We will never stop blasting them for the carnage they have wrought. And the effort to shift the blame to Obama or the Democrats or progressives for this disaster will be met, consistently, with a fist to the mouth.
This doesn’t mean that there isn’t work to be done. Our erstwhile allies on the Arabian peninsula are encouraging a radical Sunni uprising in Iraq, as well as in Syria. It’s part of a regional sectarian holy war, and we have no interest in furthering the violence on either side. Ironically, Bush’s team, by empowering Iran, have pushed our Sunni allies to go all-in with al-Qaeda types, as these are the only folks willing to lay down their lives to fight Shiites.
This should make clear just how thoroughly Dick and George bungled the so-called War on Terror. We have no allies left in the Middle East. There is no one who we want to win and no one whom it makes sense to support.
All efforts should be focused on creating a negotiated settlement and new boundaries rather than preserving Syria and Iraq as coherent nation-states. They will never be coherent nation-states again.
