Well, his wife supported going into Iraq. She wanted us to get involved in Syria, too. Her international outlook is very hawkish, not significantly different than Cheney's. Would he criticize Hillary if asked about her positions? Not a chance.
Unfortunately, that alliance was shaky to begin with, as it was based primarily on bribing the tribal leaders in Sunni areas. As soon the American cash flow was cut off, the tribes lost their interest in the alliance with the government. Petraeus and Crocker were not some kind of miracle workers there. The American taxpayer was. As I've said before, the situation in Iraq has many bad actors (internal and external) and piling the blame exclusively on al-Maliki, although convenient, misses the point. I think your analysis lacks depth, sorry.
The author's understanding of our position and responsibility vis a vis the countries we illegally invaded is overly simplistic. Of course, we shouldn't be sending troops to Iraq this time (or the previous time for that matter), but laying all the blame for the messy outcomes exclusively on the leaders like Maliki, Karzai and Diem is quite bold. Again, we are the good guys, that may be remembered as genuinely supporting moderation and coexistence. I think, not at this point.
"Beyond doubt, the current Sunni uprising is the fruit of abuses by Iraq’s President Malaki. Equally beyond doubt, he has done this despite years of earnest US warnings that exactly this would happen. Now, instead of demanding he rectify his misrule, we are supposed to kill and die to support it?" Really? If only al-Maliki had listened to US earnest warnings....What about historical, geographical and ethnic/religious contexts to the current Iraqi fiasco, as well as, the role we've been playing in inflaming the divisions throughout the region? There is lots of blame to go around on this one and calming things down requires lots of nuance and understanding of those contexts. I didn't find it in this post. Also, some self-reflection and humility would be appreciated.
The Leveretts, Hillary and her husband Flynt have a website, Goingtotehran.com, where where they regularly post on the subject of Iran and the region. Very informative.
Saf
I watched Zakaria, too, and kept wishing he had someone like Hillary Leverett to counter so over-rated Richard Clark, the said retired general and a former State Dept official, PJ Crowley who had advocated for MEK in the past. It was depressing to watch.
Here is the link to Hillary Mann Leverette on c-span. She's spot on, as always. http://www.c-span.org/video/?319975-7/washington-journal-violence-iraq
Professor Cole, although I agree with your main point that the US and Iran (and everyone else for that matter) should cooperate against ISIS forces, some of your other statements in this post made me scratch my head. The real reason we have all those Sunni fanatics roaming Levant is not even mentioned here. Sunnis were as eager to see Shia in power, as the GOP was welcoming of the Obama's presidency. Even, if Maliki wasn't sufficiently inclusive and skillful enough to manage the sectarian mess left to him by Americans, he WAS ELECTED by the people of Iraq. A good article by Shireen Hunter on Lobelog a week ago, highly recommend. This neocolonial meddling, red lines, al-Maliki has to go, Assad has to go, Qaddafi had to go, Saddam had to go, when is it going to stop? Your enthusiasm for military intervention in Libya and your constant bashing of Bashar (lol) Assad, did not improve lives of the citizens of those countries. Libya is a failed state and Syria is still hanging by a thread only thanks to Iran and Russia. I'm very much in favor of modern democracies in the ME and the current despots should be the relics of the past, by our interventionism seems to backfire every time and empower the worst elements in those societies. Never mind, that this chaos is playing nicely to Israel's long term plans of partitioning the ME, so there is no more threat to the Greater Israel's expansionism. Oh, those Golan Heights and that Jordan river...so delicious. Netanyahu didn't seem alarmed by the ISIS fighters on Meet the Press (or rather Me Depressed) yesterday. He never mentioned his buddies in the Gulf States who finance them. All he wanted to talk about was Iran, as the Iranians were behind every single mischief in the world. I thought that you, of all people, understood that...Otherwise, a huge fan.
Well, his wife supported going into Iraq. She wanted us to get involved in Syria, too. Her international outlook is very hawkish, not significantly different than Cheney's. Would he criticize Hillary if asked about her positions? Not a chance.
Amen to everything that you said.
Here is Vali Nasr of Johns Hopkins SAIS on Maliki's dilemmas and leadership. It's not all black and white. Highly recommend.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118441/iran-iraq-isis-qa-vali-nasr
Unfortunately, that alliance was shaky to begin with, as it was based primarily on bribing the tribal leaders in Sunni areas. As soon the American cash flow was cut off, the tribes lost their interest in the alliance with the government. Petraeus and Crocker were not some kind of miracle workers there. The American taxpayer was. As I've said before, the situation in Iraq has many bad actors (internal and external) and piling the blame exclusively on al-Maliki, although convenient, misses the point. I think your analysis lacks depth, sorry.
The author's understanding of our position and responsibility vis a vis the countries we illegally invaded is overly simplistic. Of course, we shouldn't be sending troops to Iraq this time (or the previous time for that matter), but laying all the blame for the messy outcomes exclusively on the leaders like Maliki, Karzai and Diem is quite bold. Again, we are the good guys, that may be remembered as genuinely supporting moderation and coexistence. I think, not at this point.
"Beyond doubt, the current Sunni uprising is the fruit of abuses by Iraq’s President Malaki. Equally beyond doubt, he has done this despite years of earnest US warnings that exactly this would happen. Now, instead of demanding he rectify his misrule, we are supposed to kill and die to support it?" Really? If only al-Maliki had listened to US earnest warnings....What about historical, geographical and ethnic/religious contexts to the current Iraqi fiasco, as well as, the role we've been playing in inflaming the divisions throughout the region? There is lots of blame to go around on this one and calming things down requires lots of nuance and understanding of those contexts. I didn't find it in this post. Also, some self-reflection and humility would be appreciated.
The Leveretts, Hillary and her husband Flynt have a website, Goingtotehran.com, where where they regularly post on the subject of Iran and the region. Very informative.
Saf
I watched Zakaria, too, and kept wishing he had someone like Hillary Leverett to counter so over-rated Richard Clark, the said retired general and a former State Dept official, PJ Crowley who had advocated for MEK in the past. It was depressing to watch.
Here is the link to Hillary Mann Leverette on c-span. She's spot on, as always.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?319975-7/washington-journal-violence-iraq
Sorry, chet, my omission.
Professor Cole, although I agree with your main point that the US and Iran (and everyone else for that matter) should cooperate against ISIS forces, some of your other statements in this post made me scratch my head. The real reason we have all those Sunni fanatics roaming Levant is not even mentioned here. Sunnis were as eager to see Shia in power, as the GOP was welcoming of the Obama's presidency. Even, if Maliki wasn't sufficiently inclusive and skillful enough to manage the sectarian mess left to him by Americans, he WAS ELECTED by the people of Iraq. A good article by Shireen Hunter on Lobelog a week ago, highly recommend. This neocolonial meddling, red lines, al-Maliki has to go, Assad has to go, Qaddafi had to go, Saddam had to go, when is it going to stop? Your enthusiasm for military intervention in Libya and your constant bashing of Bashar (lol) Assad, did not improve lives of the citizens of those countries. Libya is a failed state and Syria is still hanging by a thread only thanks to Iran and Russia. I'm very much in favor of modern democracies in the ME and the current despots should be the relics of the past, by our interventionism seems to backfire every time and empower the worst elements in those societies. Never mind, that this chaos is playing nicely to Israel's long term plans of partitioning the ME, so there is no more threat to the Greater Israel's expansionism. Oh, those Golan Heights and that Jordan river...so delicious. Netanyahu didn't seem alarmed by the ISIS fighters on Meet the Press (or rather Me Depressed) yesterday. He never mentioned his buddies in the Gulf States who finance them. All he wanted to talk about was Iran, as the Iranians were behind every single mischief in the world. I thought that you, of all people, understood that...Otherwise, a huge fan.