I asked it. A reader offers one answer:
The big question:
"Was this project always doomed or did the execution doom it?"
The project was always doomed because our strategy was the result of philosophical hogwash.
Back before the war there were many of us who asked a simple question: When in recorded history have human beings reacted to the sudden toppling of their systems of governance the way Iraqis are supposed to react after we topple Saddam, by peacefully and immediately creating an entirely different system of governance?
The answer: Never
We asked a second question: When in recorded history has a change of government in one nation led to a peaceful and spontaneous change of governments in neighboring nations?
The answer: Never.
The operating assumption of the Bush administration was that Iraqis would not act in historically predictable ways because our motives were pure. The notion other human beings will defy human nature if our hearts are pure must be called what it is: new-agey poppycock.
Our motives were pure; we were going to liberate Iraqis from an awful dictator, period. The people of Iraq, upon experiencing this act of selflessness on the part of 'good guy' America, would then be guided by peace and love and immediately start rebuilding their society in our image, or something close enough that we could be proud of it. Their neighbors, seeing how the Age of Aquarius had broken out next door, would then rush to join the love-in...and the world would live as one. Thus we would be able to bring most of our troops home very quickly after toppling Saddam, leaving behind only enough to protect Iraq from its evil neighbors until they, too, saw the light.
The effort was doomed from the start because it was based upon magical thinking.
So question one: When in recorded history have human beings reacted to the sudden toppling of their systems of governance the way Iraqis are supposed to react after we topple Saddam, by peacefully creating an entirely different system of governance? Answer: Japan and Germany after the Second World War. Question Two: When in recorded history has a change of government in one nation led to a peaceful and spontaneous change of governments in neighboring nations? Answer: the collapse of the Soviet Union was followed by an astonishing transformation in many neighboring countries. The creation of the European Union also caused an amazing shift in its periphery. The rationale behind the Iraq war was not magical; it was much too optimistic. And that's where the debate now has to start.