Analysis or Penance?

Much of the hand wringing over the Iraq War on the tenth anniversary of its beginning strikes me as attempts to be fashionable far more than analysis. It just isn't good for your career in journalism to say anything but bad things about the Iraq War. And you might not get invited to the right parties.

We won on the battlefield with acceptable levels of mistakes, for a good cause, achieved a number of objectives (including the gutting of al Qaeda notwithstanding incorrect statements that Iraq "distracted" us from fighting al Qaeda in Afghanistan), and even now have a Middle East Arab example--however imperfect--of democracy for those who hope the Arab Spring can offer alternatives to Islamism and autocracy as a way to live their lives.

It was a good war. I say that without hesitation. But I'm not interested in being fashionable.