Getting real on Iraq

The Washington Post editorial page has little to say today about Iraq, but the Times comes in with an editorial and three op-eds, by Bob Herbert, Noah Feldman (on why elections should be postponed, which both Bush and Allawi don't want to admit) and, of course, the always-must-read Paul Krugman.

But don't forget to check out that other paper -- the Los Angeles Times -- where Juan Cole asks "What would the United States look like if it were in Iraq's current situation?" and then proceeds to spin out that hypothetical scenario.

And Hadi Semati, a professor of political science at Tehran University who is currently a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, has this ominous opening paragraph in his op-ed on how Bush's Iraqi adventure has backfired:

The Bush administration hoped that regime change in Iraq would stimulate democratic change throughout the Middle East but, in fact, the opposite is taking place.