The Next War in Iraq

Even if Maliki is replaced, says Joe Klein, the country will remain in chaos. And there's little the U.S. can do but stand by

David Furst / AFP / Getty

U.S. soldiers from 3-509 Para-Infantry Regiment load onto a Chinook helicopter as they set off on an air assault as part of Operation Marne Husky along the Tigris river south of Baghdad.

At the Iowa Straw Poll a few weeks ago, just about every Republican presidential candidate who mentioned the war in Iraq cited an op-ed piece in the "liberal" New York Times written by two military analysts from the "liberal" Brookings Institution. They had just returned from a brief tour of Iraq where they saw many of the same things I saw on a similar trip in June. They saw the success our military has had in turning Sunni tribes against extremists from al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) but then extrapolated wildly, saying this was a war we "just might win."...

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