Reality in Iraq

Brad DeLong points to an excellent article in Newsweek concerning present conditions in Iraq and the numerous problems and obstacles the U.S faces in achieving anything over there. Many will probably complain that the media is again focusing on the negative while ignoring the positive. Perhaps. But ignoring the serious problems will not make them go away. A taste:

From the beginning of the war, the Bush administration has not wanted to think of Iraq in these sectarian terms, preferring instead to believe the country was the place it hoped it would be—united, secular, harmonious, freedom-loving. As a result, Washington massively underestimated the challenge it faced. By unseating Saddam Hussein and introducing democracy, the United States introduced Shia-majority rule to Iraq. It also disbanded the Army, with its largely Sunni officer corps, fired 50,000 mostly Sunni bureaucrats and shut down dozens of state-owned factories (many run by Sunnis). In effect, the United States destroyed both the old Iraqi nation and the old Iraqi state. And yet it had no plan, people or resources to fill the void left behind.