When discussing the Iraq war, always bring up the fact "Iran won the war" - part of the axis of evil. The US spent money and blood to install a Shiite Pro-Iranian government in Iraq. The Bush administration has officially rejected the neocons by allowing the US Iraq ambassador to talk to Iran about Iraq. (
http://www.alertnet.org/...)
Most of the current Shiite government officials spent years in exile in Iran. Our "buddy" Ahmad Chalabi, was accused by our own government of giving state secrets to Iran (
http://en.wikipedia.org/...). He will probably end up being a mover and shaker in the eventual Shiite elected government in the December election. Before he made his triumphant entry into Washington, Chalabi was in IRAN.
Juan Cole has another interesting analysis on the subject (http://www.juancole.com/). To re-emphasize, he sited an analysis by Jim Lobe (http://www.ipsnews.net/...) This article show the bankruptcy of the neocons.
This should be a lesson for all of us, power blinds people from the obvious. Americans are so pragmatic. We think we can fix any problem. The US is the only superpower so we can control any situation.
"Sadaam's a Problem." - No Problem - we just overthrow him and let democracy rule. Unfortunately
* The majority of Iraq is Shiite.
* Most of the Shiite elite are Pro-Iranian.
* Because of decades of repression, there were no secular political forces to compete with religious - ethic groups.
Consequence - Iran won the Iraq war on the cheap.
Now we are going to Iran "hat in hand" to find a way of getting out of Iraq.
Let me be clear, I do agree the US and Iraqi government should buddy up to Iran on stabilizing Iraq. It is in Iran's national interest to have a stable, Pro-Iranian Iraq AND for the US to leave. We have an interest in having a stable Iraq (AND leaving). See - there's room for a deal with rational people.
This is not totally a bad thing. For the Iraqi people, I hope for an Iraq where people aren't killing each other.
Back to the start of this rant, it would be a good thing if Iraq ends up a stable, productive society, BUT always remember when debating our conservative friends:
* Sadaam had NO WMD's.
* Sadaam had no operational connection with Al Qaeda.
* Sadaam had nothing to do with 911.
* Sadaam was not a threat to the US or his neighbors.
* Since none of the above four (4) bullets were true, it was not in the US National interest to invade Iraq.
Icing on the cake, is "Iran won the Iraq war.". I have never heard one conservative rebut this assertion.