Fouad Ajami on Iraq (CM)

[W]e are invested in this Islamic world. We're invested in its fires, and we're invested in its furies. It's a very, very costly burden. And we remain there. And our burden in Iraq is part of this broader burden in the Arab world.

[W]e might come to the point where we say, look, our best intentions didn't work. I honestly want and hope and believe and maybe was somewhat encouraged on this trip to see that I think the Iraqis are getting to the point where they understand this is their country and they must redeem it.

Every time I go to Iraq, when I'm in Baghdad and after I leave Baghdad, I'm slightly more optimistic. You know, I dubbed it the tale of two cities. There is despair in Washington, and there is more determination in Baghdad.

I have a reasonable measure of optimism about what I saw in Baghdad.

More of the great scholar’s interview with Lou Dobbs here.