Moving Goalposts

Throughout the GWOT, the Left has been moving the goalposts. It started with Afghanistan, and the inevitable "quagmire" there that had doomed many an empire. But since things went well there, and elections were held for the first time in the history of that country, they have had to move on to other complaints. Iraq has been full of this goalposts moving. First they said that the war would cost 10s of thousands of lives and create 110s of thousands of refugees. When that didn't happen, Baghdad was supposed to be Stalingrad. When that didn't happen, Saddam was still on the loose. After he was caught, we still need to hold elections. When the Sunnis boycotted, they said the elections were illegitimate. Now that the Sunnis have decided to participate in the government, in effect validating the elections, the chief complaint is that the Shiites are in power, and that means that we are creating another Iran.

Robert Kagan points out that just because there are Shiites in Iraq, does not mean that they are the same as the Shiites in Iran. In fact, almost none of the Iraqi Shiites want to set up a theocratic state like Iran.

One could note, for instance, what Iraqi Shiite leaders have actually been saying since their election victory, which is that they have no interest in or intention of copying the Iranian model or in making Iraq an ally of Iran. Adel Abdul Mahdi, a top Shiite leader, told CNN exactly that. He also insisted, "We don't want either a Shiite government or an Islamic government." Abdul Aziz Hakim, the leader of the Shiite alliance that won 48 percent of the vote, has pledged a "government of national unity," and already it is clear that bargaining among Iraq's constituencies is likely to produce a government with strong Kurdish as well as Sunni participation.

Additionally, the Shiite bloc is made up of very different Shiite factions, some religious and some secular. From all indications, the Shiites of Iraq consider themselves Iraqis first.

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Update (from Elder of Zion #6):

Once again showing superior vision and ingenuity, the Right has leaked an internal memo stating that, from this point moving forward, they will endeavor to move “the ball” as opposed to “the goal posts” as part of their man-hour cost savings effort. The memo goes on to say that this recommendation comes courtesy of a 3 month research and development project involving countless hours of watching old Peanuts cartoons (specific episodes of interest included sequences featuring Lucy / Charley Brown relations).