In the Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove offers a begrudging accounting of his bad predictions for 2012 and new ones for 2013:
Syria's Bashar Assad will be forced from power, but Mr. Obama's failure to provide active, sustained U.S. leadership will result in a new Islamist regime in Damascus friendly with Iran.
Is there anyone who knows anything about Syria who thinks that a Sunni-dominated insurgency supported by the Gulf States and Turkey against the Assad regime backed to the hilt by Iran would lead to a new government any way friendly with Iran?
On the other hand, if you roll the dice in overthrowing a Sunni dictator in a Shia majority country, one of the downside risks is that that you might indeed end up with a major Arab country having a government uncomfortably friendly with Iran.
Syria's Bashar Assad will be forced from power, but Mr. Obama's failure to provide active, sustained U.S. leadership will result in a new Islamist regime in Damascus friendly with Iran.
Is there anyone who knows anything about Syria who thinks that a Sunni-dominated insurgency supported by the Gulf States and Turkey against the Assad regime backed to the hilt by Iran would lead to a new government any way friendly with Iran?
On the other hand, if you roll the dice in overthrowing a Sunni dictator in a Shia majority country, one of the downside risks is that that you might indeed end up with a major Arab country having a government uncomfortably friendly with Iran.