The Batterer Always Claims to be the Victim

Can I just register my disgust with the current discussion of "benchmarks" for the Iraqi government? It's all the fault of these feckless natives, is that it? We need to be stern, like good parents, with our wayward allies? Let them suffer the consequences of failing to do...what? Resolve these ancient sectarian conflicts, now that we've torn off the scab? Oh, the response goes, but it was good to depose the murderous dictator. Alright: good enough for the Iraqis to pay this cost? To say nothing of the cost to us. Blaming the Iraqi government for failing to administer a peaceful and functioning Iraq is a seductive way to avoid the guilt that we as a nation have for the current situation in Iraq, simple as that. It's an excuse to withdraw for people who don't want to admit that the invasion was a mistake. It's a rationalization for leaving these people to their fate after we trashed their security situation.