Iraq, In Hindsight

Hindsight is more acute than foresight, for the obvious reasons. Historian Joseph J. Ellis writes for the Los Angeles Times about US involvement in Iraq then and now. Some of his conclusions seem spot on.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is never going to create an inclusive, pluralistic government, not just because he is stubborn but because the Iraqi people do not want one. In truth, there is no such thing as the Iraqi people.

What we are witnessing now is the partitioning of Iraq into three regional sovereignties — Shiite, Sunni and Kurd — which was always the inevitable consequence of our toppling of Hussein.

The recent decision to send 300 American troops back into Iraq reveals that even Obama does not get it. He apparently believes that the United States can overcome more than 1,000 years of history to transform the Middle East. We can't, and we never could.

Did you notice "even Obama does not get it?" I would have said, "... like Bush, Obama does not get it."