Today, the war in Iraq is over
And the Shiites have won.
U.S. and Iraqis Are Wrangling Over War Plans
From now on, it’s all just for show. If any war-supporting bloggers want to pretend this can still come out differently, they are delusional. The original war we started in Iraq, the war to Destroy WMDs, Remove Saddam, and Instill Democracy, is finished. Done. Future histories may note the Ides of January, 2007 as the official end of that war.
Read Burns’ article. And if anyone wants to hang on to some desperate belief that John Burns and the NYTimes are wrong and the Bush administration and Powder Line type blogs are right, after nearly four years showing just the opposite, … good luck to them.
No one, anywhere on the planet, including those of us who might be potential victims of terrorism, have more stake in defeating the Sunni insurgents in Iraq than the men who comprise the Iraqi government. And they, in a surely accurate estimation of their self-interest, do not need us. They can handle the Sunnis on their own. Not according to rules that we might like, but we are, in fact, irrelevant.
Today, victory in Iraq belongs to the Shiites.
Update: The usually perceptive Tim F. at Balloon Juice seems reluctant to connect the dots on this.
Colin Powell: a course has to have an end
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Iraq
John Cole: “I was misled on Iraq.”
Bush’s New Iraq Argument: It Could Be Worse
We need more suits on the ground