Failure in Iraq

It's official: the dream of a democratic Iraq, spouted by Bush and Blair as a "justification" for their illegal war of aggression, is dust. Instead, according to the outgoing British ambassador to Baghdad, the most likely result is civil war - or worse:

Mr Patey wrote: "The prospect of a low intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is probably more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy.

"Even the lowered expectation of President Bush for Iraq - a government that can sustain itself, defend itself and govern itself and is an ally in the war on terror - must remain in doubt."

In other words, Iraq is fast on the way to becoming a failed state, like Somalia, only with more oil. Was that really worth forty thousand dead civilians?

The disaster in Iraq ought to be a reminder that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and that trying to impose democracy at gunpoint is unlikely to succeed. Unfortunately, the lesson doesn't seem to have sunk in to the NeoCons yet; according to Salon, they're raring for another go, and trying to widen the war in Lebanon to include Syria and Iran in a desperate bid to show that their ideas are something more than dangerous fantasies (a kind of "double or nothing", played with innocent people's lives). And worse, Bush seems to be listening to them...