Buckley also said, taking the opinion of another:
"..One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed. The same edition of the paper quotes a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Reuel Marc Gerecht backed the American intervention. He now speaks of the bombing of the especially sacred Shiite mosque in Samarra and what that has precipitated in the way of revenge. He concludes that "the bombing has completely demolished" what was being attempted -- to bring Sunnis into the defense and interior ministries..."
Official says Iraqis resisting civil war(Blames Zarqawi for Attack on Shiite Shrine)
Iraqis have not gone to full civil war yet and there are signs that they are still trying. Buckley was premature and overstated the significance of the bombing. It is Zarqawi who is in trouble.
Ditto, either way the Sunnis (main antagonists) would lose and the US would win. The Sunnis treat the Shiites the way Imperial Japan treated the Koreans. They are lucky that they have not been butchered in the streets shortly after Saddam's fall. The minority Sunnis have two choices, give up their dreams of regaining power or face annihilation at the hands of the majority Iraqis. The US should signal to the Sunnis that we can play it either way.
Sounds almost Cronkitian.
Reuel Marc Gerecht used to sound and write sensibly, but I have read some very strange articles by him in the past two years or so. His view of the Shia theocrats and how America should relate to them is off kilter in my opinion.