Ralph Peters Blames Iraqis for U.S. Incompetence and Arrogance

Ralph Peters calls himself "honest" for saying the Iraq war can't be won. But when it comes to accepting responsibility, as an American who supported the war, for the disastrous results of the U.S. invasion, he ducks it, just like every other Republican, and instead blames the country we invaded:

Iraq is failing. No honest observer can conclude otherwise. Even six months ago, there was hope. Now the chances for a democratic, unified Iraq are dwindling fast. The country's prime minister has thrown in his lot with al-Sadr, our mortal enemy. He has his eye on the future, and he's betting that we won't last. The police are less accountable than they were under Saddam. Our extensive investment in Iraqi law enforcement only produced death squads. Government ministers loot the country to strengthen their own factions. Even Iraq's elections -- a worthy experiment -- further divided Iraq along confessional and ethnic lines. Iraq still exists on the maps, but in reality it's gone. Only a military coup -- which might come in the next few years -- could hold the artificial country together.

This chaos wasn't inevitable. While in Iraq late last winter, I remained soberly hopeful. Since then, the strength of will of our opponents -- their readiness to pay any price and go to any length to win -- has eclipsed our own. The valor of our enemies never surpassed that of our troops, but it far exceeded the fair-weather courage of the Bush administration.

Yet, for all our errors, we did give the Iraqis a unique chance to build a rule-of-law democracy. They preferred to indulge in old hatreds, confessional violence, ethnic bigotry and a culture of corruption. It appears that the cynics were right: Arab societies can't support democracy as we know it. And people get the government they deserve.

Waveflux, posting at Shakespeare's Sister, says it really well:

Ralph Peters wholeheartedly supported the greatest foreign policy blunder of modern times. Now that the failure of George Bush's war in Iraq is plain for even him to see, now that an entire nation has been wrecked and laid open to murder and chaos, Peters soberly, regretfully -- and quite unsurprisingly - blames the Iraqis.

Sure. What else would a Republican do?