Smart blogger Josh Marshall only wants to hear one grand unified theory of the Iraq shambles --
The simple and fundamental fact is that this is the fallout of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Any analysis that doesn't grapple with and accept that basic fact is just wrong and possibly dishonest to boot. ... Circling back, this is the upshot of the decision made in March 2003. There is no other realistic or honest way to understand it.
But then, a fly in the ointment --
The outbreak of a shattering Civil War in Syria only upped the stakes massively.
If only we had an example of a country with a Ba'athist dictator that the US didn't invade to see what Iraq without the 2003 invasion might look like!
The simple and fundamental fact is that this is the fallout of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Any analysis that doesn't grapple with and accept that basic fact is just wrong and possibly dishonest to boot. ... Circling back, this is the upshot of the decision made in March 2003. There is no other realistic or honest way to understand it.
But then, a fly in the ointment --
The outbreak of a shattering Civil War in Syria only upped the stakes massively.
If only we had an example of a country with a Ba'athist dictator that the US didn't invade to see what Iraq without the 2003 invasion might look like!