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Originally Posted by detbuch
The stability was not an illusion. It was understood that underlying problems existed such as those caused by the de-baathification overkill and the desire of the Shia to replace or eliminate Sunni power over Iraq and Kurdish suspicion and desires to be free of dominance by either. And that it would take time, perhaps a generation or more to acculturate Iraqis to a more cooperative, democratic, society. And it was understood, at least by the military, that it was too soon to pull out our troops. The surface peace needed to be kept until old grievances could be forgotten and new ways of living together could be accepted.
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I see, so to nurture a fledgling democracy we should have overruled an Iraqi government that refused a US troop presence without immunity for a generation long occupation.
I'm sure that would have gone over well. There's nothing as soothing as a foreign troop presence to quell centuries old political and sectarian strife.
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Gosh, I thought he was the President of the U.S., not the world. He actually inherited all that global mega-trend stuff? Well there is still hope that Obama can stave off and reverse the global mega-trends since they are not totally impossible to control. Just, as you say, nearly so.
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Like I said, the president can influence but not totally control.