“The failure to control Iraq's borders on day one after regime change was a strategic blunder of incalculable consequences. It all goes back to inadequate troop levels not to knock Saddam out, but to maintain the peace after his overthrow. The problem of the borders incidentally pertains not only to Qaeda but to Iranian intelligence and Revolutionary Guard member for whom access into Iraq is until today a very easy thing.”

"Kanan Makiya speaks about Iraq 5 years later...", Washington Post (March 20, 2008)

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Kanan Makiya35

American orientalist 1949

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