Terrorism Continued As Iraq Slips Away

This embassy bombing in Yemen is scary, mostly because it was a coordinated and sophisticated attack, suggesting that Al Qaeda or its allies are still strong in the Arabian nation. And of course, that's elementary. Because instead of dismantling Al Qaeda networks where they were in the first place, like in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Yemen (USS Cole, anyone?), we re-routed to Iraq and created a militant insurgency that we then had to defeat. That defeat has come at great human cost (7 Americans died in a helicopter crash just today) and has resulted in a Shi'a strongman allied with Iran.

BAGHDAD -- Once dependent on American support to keep his job, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has consolidated power and is asserting his independence, sharply reducing Washington's influence over the future of Iraq.

Iraq's police and army now operate virtually on their own, and with Washington's mandate from the United Nations to provide security here expiring in less than four months, Maliki is insisting on imposing severe limits on the long-term U.S. military role, including the withdrawal of American forces from all cities by June.

America's eroded leverage has left Iran, with its burgeoning trade and political ties, in a better position to affect Iraqi government policies [...]

"If the next president waits too long, our diminishing leverage will likely disappear altogether, leaving us with two strategic options: resign ourselves to 'ride the tiger' -- that is, accept that we have to simply accept what the Iraqi government does and, at most, mitigate or help buffer the consequences -- or jump off the tiger altogether," said Iraq expert Colin Kahl of the Center for a New American Security.

Well, that was worth it!

...Eric Martin has a great reaction to this. We've not only turned away from trouble spots, but Iraq has become a training ground for terrorists, such that radicals return to their home countries and are better equipped to carry out attacks like this. The "flypaper theory," that if you draw all the terrorists to Iraq you could eliminate them, didn't work.