“We have now reached the rather ironic situation in Iraq where we find ourselves allied with Iran in an effort to save the corrupt and thuggish government of Nouri al-Maliki, while the army we spent eight years training falls apart. I’m not going to pretend to have unique insight into Iraqi politics (I’d suggest reading Marc Lynch, for starters, as a way of getting up to speed on what has led to this point).

“But there are few people who understand Iraq less than the Republican politicians and pundits who are being sought out for their comments on the current situation.”

-- Paul Waldman, “On Iraq, let's ignore those who got it all wrong,” in The Washington Post. Recommended viewing in this regard (or any regard): “No End in Sight.”