One of the best thing written on the situation in Iraq so far, is found here:

At noon today, President Obama issued his first statement on the deteriorating situation on Iraq. “This is not solely or even primarily a military challenge,” he said. “The United States will do our part, but understand that ultimately it’s up to the Iraqis as a sovereign nation to solve their problems.”

Obama left the door open to unspecified “actions,” but repeated that the Iraqis themselves had to seize the opportunity that the years of American effort gave them.

This will no doubt be greeted by the President’s opponents with something akin to apoplexy. They will be arguing that in fact the problem does have a military solution, that the U.S. can solve it, and that whatever is happening, everything would be better if we applied more force.

We have now reached the rather ironic situation in Iraq where we find ourselves allied with Iran in an effort to save the corrupt and thuggish government of Nouri al-Maliki, while the army we spent eight years training falls apart. I’m not going to pretend to have unique insight into Iraqi politics (I’d suggest reading Marc Lynch, for starters, as a way of getting up to speed on what has led to this point).

But there are few people who understand Iraq less than the Republican politicians and pundits who are being sought out for their comments on the current situation.

As you watch the debate on this issue, you should remind yourself that the most prominent voices being heard are the very ones who brought us the Iraq War in the first place, who promised that everything was simple and the only question was whether we’d be “strong” and “decisive” enough — the same thing they’re saying today. They’re the ones who swore that Saddam was in cahoots with Al Qaeda, that he had a terrifying arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, that the war would be quick, easy and cheap, that since Iraq was a largely secular country we wouldn’t have to worry about sectarian conflict, and that democracy would spread throughout the region in short order, bringing peace and prosperity along with it.

via On Iraq, let’s ignore those who got it all wrong – The Washington Post.

Also too, there is some very good writing on Iraq here.

If you’ve been following the news; Iraq is imploding and I mean badly.

There has been a good deal of ink spilled about Iraq; I’ve done a bit of that myself in the past. However, I feel the need to discuss something here: The Left. The thing the cracks me up about the left and Iraq; is that the left is still, to this day, spouting the same old tired line about Iraq: Blame Bush.  🙄

As much as I hate to admit it; Noah Rothman is absolutely correct. However, I, unlike, Noah, will tell the complete truth about it. (As a former left of center, how could I do any less?) Yes, Bush oversold the war. Yes, Bush was totally incorrect about the reasons for going into Iraq in the first place. Yes, Bush dithered on the execution of the buildup of troops, when the insurgency between Sunni and Shia began; by keeping Rumsfeld in his position for far too long.

However, President Obama has been the President of the United States since January of 2009; that is six whole years. Bush had agreements in place with the Iraqis for a residual forces. When Obama took office, Maliki changed his tune and wanted to be able to prosecute American troops according to Iraqi law; and instead of Obama trying to work with the Iraqis; he simply walked away and began withdrawing ALL forces out of Iraq. This was an epic blunder; and that blunder is all on Obama and the left cannot place that blunder on Bush at all.

The bad part is Jalal Talabani, Iraq’s current President Updated, Please see below! Maliki excluded the Sunni’s out of the Government; this caused major problems. Now, is that, in itself, Obama’s fault? No, it is not. However, President Obama could have handled this situation, a whole bunch better than he did; instead, he was gung-ho about getting out of Iraq, for political reasons and because of that, we have the situation that we do now.  To be clear; this entire thing is Obama’s baby and no amount of historical revisionism is going to change that at all.

Those who try to place the blame of this situation squarely on Bush, including left-wing bloggers; simply have no credible leg to stand on at all.

Update: I guess I should pay better attention, I was under the impression that Maliki was the President of Iraq; I was wrong. Maliki is the prime minister of Iraq and was not voted out of office. This shows you how long its been since I’ve written about Iraq! I’m over here blaming the falling apart on the wrong dude. Oopsie. Sorry about that. I shall pay more attention in the future! 😀

Update #2: A perfect example of what I am referring to is found here. National Review refutes the idiocy right here.