Thoughs on David Ignatius Video Blog about Iraq

This made me think about the central irony of the Iraq war. We get attacked by al qaeda so we start a war with the Bathists in power in Iraq even though they had no direct involvement with al qaeda. Next the presence of americans fighting in Iraq is a great mobilizer for al qudea so Iraq becomes a hotbed of terrorist activity. After years of denial and ineffective strategy we make a deal with the Bathists and other Sunnis (now called the awakening) to defeat al queda. So you make an alliance with the guys you went in to overthrow to solve a problem that didn't exist before you went in. Nice.

To be fair, different from before we went in the majority Shiites have power now which is more fair, but I doubt that many Sunnis have given up their notions that Iraq is really "rightfully" theirs to govern, and the for the Kurds being part of Iraq is mostly a matter of convince. However, the up side is that Iraq really does exist. Meaning that there is a set of stories about the historical Iraq that most Iraqis have in the back of their mind that binds the country together and imbibes the notion of Iraq with a sense of legitimacy. Thus I still think that with good leadership and good neighbors, despite the troubles past and future (the future ones described by Ignatius in the video), Iraq can still succeed.