In Basra and Iraq more generally, Americans are presented with years of evidence that U.S. military intervention has failed to achieve strategically important, sustainable outcomes despite Washington’s best efforts.
There is a basic inability to recognize the victory we've already achieved in Iraq and a failure to see what more we could yet achieve with persistence--like we displayed with Germany, Japan, Italy, and South Korea after waging wars in those places. It took time to shield new allies so they could build rule of law and democracy.
Further, is rolling back Iranian influence in the region completely unimportant to America?
Seriously, does the rise of the Islamic State not ring any bells so soon? If that recent event is already a black hole in our memory, I guess it is too much to expect people to remember what we could have had by allowing Saddam to remain in power and to forget the entire history of why America decided stopping Saddam's Iraq was in our interest.
And I'd be remiss not to note Learning Curve's extensive defense of the Iraq War.
Why are some so ready to throw away what we've achieved in Iraq and make the sacrifices a complete waste? Is justifying opposition to the 2003 Iraq War that important to these people?
UPDATE: For all the corruption and Iranian influence holding Iraq back, notice that this lengthy power struggle was resolved peacefully following the (flawed) election with negotiations and not bullets and bombs:
Iraq's parliament on Tuesday elected as president Kurdish politician Barham Salih, who immediately named Shi'ite Adel Abdul Mahdi prime minister-designate, ending months of deadlock after an inconclusive national election in May.
It's a start. And better than the Saddam era.
