Only Our War is Over

As the last US forces furled and cased their colors and prepared to leave Iraq, a reasonable amount of apprehension about the future of that country is understandable. After eight years, in which a "cakewalk" became a quagmire but, in time, was stabilized, what did the US accomplish? What was once a regional power providing a counterbalance to Iranian power is a much weaker player on friendly terms with Iran. It has an elected government and a fragile stability whose future is uncertain. Some of the most difficult questions of all, such as the future of Kirkuk, remain unresolved. We haven't talked about Iraq lately, in part I think because of a US determination to put it behind us. It's Iraq's problem now.

Whether the war was "worth it" will be debated for a long time, in Iraq and in the US. What happens next may influence how that question is ultimately answered, I suspect.