HE’S RIGHT — PROBABLY: Josh

HE’S RIGHT — PROBABLY: Josh Marshall has a level-headed post today in response to today’s Baghdad demonstration demanding an Islamic state in Iraq. It closes this way: none of this is going to be settled by one day of good or bad photo-ops. The die is cast. Like it or not, the fate of America ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

HE'S RIGHT -- PROBABLY: Josh Marshall has a level-headed post today in response to today's Baghdad demonstration demanding an Islamic state in Iraq. It closes this way:

HE’S RIGHT — PROBABLY: Josh Marshall has a level-headed post today in response to today’s Baghdad demonstration demanding an Islamic state in Iraq. It closes this way:

none of this is going to be settled by one day of good or bad photo-ops. The die is cast. Like it or not, the fate of America and Iraq are now fastened together for at least several years. I don’t pretend to know how it’s going to turn out. But the one thing I think we can be confident of is that none of us are going to emerge from this with our hubris intact.

As someone who occasionally pretends to know how things will turn out, I think Marshall is right. UPDATE: Kevin Drum has more to say on this:

This is a very long term project we’re involved in, and the ups and downs of daily events really don’t mean much. It will be months, maybe years, before we know what the real reaction of ordinary Iraqis is to our invasion. I suspect that in the long run it’s going to be more negative than positive, but at any rate — and to coin a phrase — it’s sure not going to be a cakewalk.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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