Iraq and civil wars...

Eve Fairbanks discusses the situation in Iraq as well as Darfur.

I've discussed Darfur before. That is a situation where American intervention is best kept to a small force that trains the people there in the use of small arms and in small-unit tactics - as well as training instructors.

Iraq is another matter. Saddam's regime had to go. Austin Bay largely recaps the reasons for doing so. I will add that I believe that the ivestigative reporting of Stephen F. Hayes at the Weekly Standard has established enough of a connection to al-Qaeda to warrant taking down that regime. I also think the neoconservatives are offering perhaps our best chance - maybe our only chance - to deal with state sponsors of terror before things get to the point where we have to turn to what I call the "Omaha option." The short version is that the war on terror would be turned over to a major joint command headquartered near that city. The war would be over in three days, tops. The bad news is that we would have to deal with the fallout - both figuratively and literally.

With all that said, having taken out the old Iraqi government, we needed to replace it. That government is still trying to get its feet on solid ground. Do we need a change in strategy? Yes, we do - and Don Rumsfeld had some good ideas. Sadly, he was treated like crap by certain people looking to score political points rather than come up with alternatives to what had to be done.

It's a good article, and worth thinking about.