On those first two elements, responsibility clearly
rests with the war criminals of the Tony Blair and George W. Bush
regimes. But on the last issue, the illegal arming and training of an
insurgent force to undermine the sovereignty of an established state –
that crime rests with President Barack Obama and his administration.
Democrats, including what is referred to as the “progressive” caucus,
the Congressional Black Caucus and other caucus groups, along with the
unprincipled and opportunist collection of Democratic party hacks at the
Center for American Progress, the New American Foundation, Human Rights
Watch and the other liberal and mainstream institutions and
publications who gave direct or tacit support to the foolish Bush era
strategy to destroy Syria, all place the blame for the “debacle” in Iraq
on al-Maliki. And while many of these elements opposed the Bush attack
on Iraq, the moral basis
for their opposition to direct war by the U.S. in Iraq under a
Republican president failed them in response to the indirect war waged
on Syria by a Democrat president. In both cases, it was war that was
unleashed, and in both cases outside the parameters of international law
and in opposition to the wishes and interests of the vast majorities of
the peoples of those nations.
-- Ajamu Baraka, "The Human Rights Crisis in Iraq" (CounterPunch).