However, I also noted that one of the false lessons of Iraq was that all incursions are necessarily ill advised. That is to over learn the lessons of the Iraq war. If we abandon all use of military force, especially if we let the world know, as Obama did, that we have no intention of resorting to force, we have no leverage with bloodthirsty dictators who can smell weakness.
With respect to John Bolton, I think we ought to discount much of the treatment he received in this article considering the source. The New Yorker is hardly the place to find any support for rational foreign policy. Rather it is a place to find cheap and easy shots designed to insert a wedge into the Trump administration and between Trump and his base. If in the process The New Yorker can paint the Trump administration as incompetent, all the better for them.
Equally, I think we ought to understand that it is entirely within Trump's methods to employ a "good cop, bad cop" tactic in which Bolton plays the hardliner while Trump keeps his options open even as he enjoys leverage in negotiation because of Bolton's public hardline.
Finally, there is a political advantage in letting Bolton take the political hit for belligerent remarks while Trump gains the leverage.
