Another crystal-ball loser

Leading neo-con Michael Rubin, from the American Enterprise Institute, in a letter to the Australian on July 2, 2004:

“With luck, Iraq can be like Malaysia.”

(This still pontificating-genius now believes that “engagement” with Iran and Syria is pointless.)

UPDATE: In Washington, Australia’s Defence Minister Brendan Nelson, continues to issue laughable assessments of the Iraq war:

It’s time that more people got behind the United States in what it’s trying to do and seeking to achieve in Iraq for Iraqis and also for stability in the region. And, I think it should be, it’s to the great credit of the President and the Administration that in a year when they face midterm elections where it would have been expedient to reduce US troop numbers, they actually increased them because it was the right thing to do. And, whatever is happening in Baghdad in particular, if there’s a precipitous withdrawal of US and coalition forces, then there will be significant bloodshed right across Iraq, destabilisation of the region, and Iraq will become a country that will be a haven for terrorism that will reach out throughout the world. And no-one should forget that most of the sectarian violence and bloodshed we see every day on our television screens was inspired and planned by Al-Qaeda. And Al-Qaeda is the enemy that is faced by free countries and countries like Australia that are committed to people living in a free world. And so whatever happens in Iraq, it’s absolutely essential that we make sure that good prevails and that we all support the Iraqi government, democratically elected, the United States, the British and other coalition parties, to see that we get the job done. And Australia has never been a quitter, and we’re not about to start. 

al-Qaeda causes all the violence in Iraq? If Nelson seriously believes this, he’s either delusional or a fool. The Iraq Study Group found that al-Qaeda makes up a tiny percentage of the insurgency, with the bulk of the resistance coming from Iraqis themselves. What will it take for the Australian government to recognise the fact that the majority of Iraqis support attacks against “Coalition” troops?