The Brits and Iraq

A National Interest interview with Rosemary Hollis, director of research at Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs). The British report on Iraq was just released last Saturday. It is as bleak as the US intelligence community's. Money quote:

Well, I was in Iran just over a month ago, and I interviewed a number of people in and around the administration. The future of Iraq belongs to them. They believe they’re winning in Iraq and that America is losing, and it’s just a question of how soon the Americans give up and go home, or whether they will hold on. Now if they hold on, one must assume that part of the reason is to deny a victory to the Iranians, but how do you justify that to the soldiers on the ground? That it’s no longer about putting things right in Iraq? It’s about salvaging America’s reputation vis-vis Iran?