This is an excellent analysis. That's not to say it's necessarily right in all aspects. It's a perspective. In my opinion we were right to go into Iraq, but we were wrong in occupying and nation-building. Bush violated his "no nation building" campaign statements. We should have preserved the Iraqi military, inserted our own captive dictator from its ranks and left. Alternatively, we could have split Iraq in three, an outcome which now seems certain to happen on its own. Geopolitically this would have been difficult, particularly with Turkey's outlook at the time towards the Kurds.

Sherman's 300,000 and the Caliphate's Three Million

by David P. Goldman
Asia Times
August 12, 2014

http://www.meforum.org/4776/sherman-300000-and-the-caliphate-three-million