Nor did the Iraqi leaders take exception to Ahmadinejad's insistence that the US has only brought terror to the region and that the continued American presence is the main obstacle to peace. On the contrary, PM Nouri al-Maliki pronounced his talks with fellow Shiite Ahmadinejad "friendly, positive and full of trust." Video of Talabani, who asked that Ahmadinejad call him "Uncle Jalal" after holding hands and exchanging kisses with the Iranian president, was broadcast throughout the region.

Saddam Hussein went to war with Iran, but Bush has given his Iranian foes a Shiite-run ally. [url=http://www.alternet.org/story/78902/] Iran is [b]...

Nor did the Iraqi leaders take exception to Ahmadinejad's insistence that the US has only brought terror to the region and that the continued American presence is the main obstacle to peace. On the contrary, PM Nouri al-Maliki pronounced his talks with fellow Shiite Ahmadinejad "friendly, positive and full of trust." Video of Talabani, who asked that Ahmadinejad call him "Uncle Jalal" after holding hands and exchanging kisses with the Iranian president, was broadcast throughout the region.

Saddam Hussein went to war with Iran, but Bush has given his Iranian foes a Shiite-run ally. Iran is now a major trading partner of Iraq that has offered a $1 billion loan, the border is increasingly porous as religious pilgrimages have become the norm, and many investment projects supervised by Iranians are in the works. Instead of isolating the "rogue regime" of Iran, the Bush administration has catapulted the theocrats of Tehran into the centre of Mideast political power. There can be no peace, whether in Lebanon, Gaza or Iraq, without the cooperation of the ayatollahs of Iran. If that was the intention of the neoconservative cabal that led Bush into this folly, its members should be tried for treason.
... AlterNet

That was, however, obviously not what the neocons expected from the invasion of Iraq, which they engineered in the wake of 9/11 with a much rosier scenario in mind. The saying that there is no need to attribute to mendacity what can be explained by ordinary stupidity aptly defines the neoconservative folly. Clearly the neocons were conned by the likes of Ahmed Chalabi, the rogue banker accused by the CIA of slipping US secrets to Tehran, into believing that a "liberated" Iraq would advance democracy in the region, not to mention the security of Israel. That the opposite has occurred is no big pro...

That was, however, obviously not what the neocons expected from the invasion of Iraq, which they engineered in the wake of 9/11 with a much rosier scenario in mind. The saying that there is no need to attribute to mendacity what can be explained by ordinary stupidity aptly defines the neoconservative folly. Clearly the neocons were conned by the likes of Ahmed Chalabi, the rogue banker accused by the CIA of slipping US secrets to Tehran, into believing that a "liberated" Iraq would advance democracy in the region, not to mention the security of Israel. That the opposite has occurred is no big problem for them as they emerge with their careers intact.

The leading neocon publicist, William Kristol, has even been rewarded for never getting it right with a premier spot on the New York Times opinion pages, so yes, in the punditry business, one does fail upward.

But for Bush, his signature issue, the battle against terrorism, is a
shambles. The terrorists are very much on the rise in Afghanistan and
Pakistan, which Bush neglected for an Iraq sideshow that has cost over
a trillion dollars and tens of thousands of lives. But the long-run
price will be far higher, with the blowback from the massive
instability that he has engendered in the region.

When Bush has finally retired to that ranch, cutting sagebrush to his
heart's content, his all-consuming smugness might ever so subtly be
troubled by the memory of a father who knew best, and who warned
against the terminal foolishness of seizing Baghd