Winning (or losing) the peace in Iraq?

Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria who writes about the international scene comments on the latest in Iraq. He recounts the history of instability in Iraq.

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Excerpt:

IRAQ HAS ONE of the most violent histories of any country on the globe. In comparison even with other states in the Middle East, Iraq’s modern history has been marked by turmoil, coups, bloodshed and mayhem. Consider the fate of its rulers:

Faisal I: Installed by the British in the wake of a violent revolt, he ruled for 10 years and was one of a handful of Iraqi leaders to die of natural causes, in 1933.

Ghazi I: Faisal’s son, he witnessed a coup against his prime minister three years after being installed and then, in 1939, died mysteriously. The official explanation was that he drove his car into a lamppost.

Faisal II: The young king, his regent and almost the entire royal family and entourage were killed in a bloody coup in 1958.

Abdul Karim Qassem: Qassem came to power in the coup of 1958. In 1963 he was killed in a coup himself.

Abdul Salam Arif: Arif came to power in the 1963 coup, which unleashed a wave of massacres across the country. Three years later he died mysteriously in a helicopter accident.

Abdul Rahman Arif: Brother of the above, he lasted about as long. In July 1968 he was ousted in the Baathist coup and exiled to Istanbul.

Ahmed Hasan-al-Bakr: Became president after the 1968 coup and stayed in power until 1979, when he stepped down for reasons of “ill health” in favor of his deputy, Saddam Hussein.

And this has been the history of violence among only the Sunni of Iraq, who have always been able to rule over the Shiites, Kurds, Turkomans and others using brutal means.

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Certainly a bleak picture. The question remains: are the Iraqis better off now with the obvious problems they face then they were when Hussein still in charge?

Critics of the Bush administration have legit points but the the bottom line is what next? Zakaria says we need more UN forces and I'd have to agree with that. And indeed, trying to turn more things over to local control would help.

What is really frustrating is that the recent bombing on Najaf was done either by Hussein loyalists or Al-Qaida and guess who the people blame? The US. Muslims killing Muslims and the Muslims blame the US. Sometimes you got to wonder if the people in Washington think, forget this, let's get our people out of there and let these people kill themselves. But of course we can't because we have a moral obligation to help the people get their country back. And unfortunately, the same evil people who would bomb a Mosque would have no hesistation to bomb something in the USA if they had half the chance.