A deputy editor for the major establishment newspaper, the Washington Post, has written a column that belatedly marks the tenth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq while at the same time claiming he has learned a \u201clesson\u201d that leads him to conclude there is a need for US intervention in Syria.<\/p>\n
Jackson Diehl concedes he is like other Iraq War supporters, who now push for more US involvement in Syria, but he sociopathically argues:<\/p>\n
Iraq was unquestionably costly and painful to the United States \u2014 in dollars, in political comity and, above all, in lives, both of Iraqis and Americans. It hasn\u2019t turned out, so far, as we war supporters hoped. Yet in the absence of U.S. intervention, Syria is looking like it could produce a much worse humanitarian disaster and a far more serious strategic reverse for the United States. [emphasis added]<\/p>\n
Diehl proceeds to compare what he believes happened after US forces invaded and occupied Iraq to what he believes is happening now in Syria because the US has not intervened.<\/p>\n
He suggests the \u201cUnited States faced down al-Qaeda and eventually dealt it a decisive defeat\u201d while at the same time \u201cA revival of al Qaeda in Iraq\u201d is making it increasingly likely al Qaeda obtains \u201cchemical or biological weapons.\u201d And, \u201cThe Iraq war prompted low-level meddling by Iran, Syria and other neighbors but otherwise left the surrounding region unscathed, thanks to the U.S. presence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those statements ignore how the Post\u2018s own Ernesto Londo\u00f1o reported in November 2009\u2014that though Iraq had once been a \u201cforeign-led terrorist organization\u201d it had developed into a \u201cmostly Iraqi network of small, roving cells\u201d that now relied on \u201cthe flow of fighters and weapons smuggled through the Syrian border, albeit at a slower rate.\u201d Whatever \u201cdecisive\u201d defeat was delivered to al Qaeda through the infamous \u201csurge\u201d did not prevent the eventual resurgence of an al Qaeda, which news agencies report is still \u201cstepping up attacks on Shia targets and security forces.\u201d And Diehl also declines to acknowledge that the intervention in Iraq made Iran a greater power in the region.<\/p>\n
This is why one can say Diehl is suffering from a form of sociopathy. The facts are insignificant to the ideology driving him to the conclusion that US influence in the Middle East region is \u201cplummeting\u201d because the US has not been involved in Syria like it was in Iraq.<\/p>\n