Iraq on the Fourth of July

On this anniversary of the start of the planet's boldest and most successful experiment in democracy, it hurts to be so right about how that exceptional nation has been so wrong.

I've said (feared?) for years that whether we stayed in Iraq for a month or a decade, all hell - or something like it - would break out shortly after we went home.

During my years of covering the George W. Bush White House, the administration's message, delivered repeatedly and relentlessly, was always that we were prepping Iraq to be a functioning democracy that could defend itself after we went home.

We went home, and now Iraq is crumbling. The leadership we propped up has failed, and civil war has broken out, one that is bloody and subhuman. And one that makes your heart ache for loved ones of U.S. troops killed in Iraq.

For the U.S., all we ever could hope for was that the aftermath would not follow us home to our shores. At this point, that's TBD.

And a harrowing word - one Bush taught us to fear - was uttered this week when Sunni militants who captured parts of northern Iraq in recent weeks declared a "caliphate." Though he pushed back against the Vietnam analogy, Bush proffered a Middle East domino theory.

In a Sept. 5, 2006 speech, Bush said: "Violent Sunni extremists ... hope to establish a violent political utopia across they call a caliphate, where all would be ruled according to their hateful ideology."

Granted, Saddam Hussein was a bad guy.

But now it now seems we're perilously close to making it inarguable that our invasion of Iraq has caused more problems than it solved.

At an Aug. 21, 2006 news conference, I asked Bush about the then-sagging public support for the war in Iraq.

Bush said he understood "why people are discouraged about Iraq. ... We live in a world in which people hope things happen quickly," but he said it was in our national interest to stay his course in Iraq.

I followed up by noting to Bush that the consequences he feared if we withdrew might never have existed if we'd never gone in.

He acknowledged that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction but said Saddam "had the capacity" to make them. Bush wrapped up by saying,

"The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East."

I asked Bush what Iraq had to do with that.

"Nothing," he said, adding: "The lesson of September the 11th is take threats (seriously) before they materialize, Ken."

He concluded by telling me, "You don't succeed by leaving before the mission is complete, like some in this political process are suggesting."

Did President Barack Obama take us out of Iraq before the mission was complete?

Could this mission ever be complete?

Is this Vietnam redux?

It will only turn out that well if, about 40 years from now, Iraq becomes a popular destination for U.S. tourists.

On this holiday weekend, please think of the 4,425 U.S. troops killed and 31,945 wounded in this ill-fated international adventure.

For their sake, I hope I turn out to be wrong about how Iraq will turn out.

KHERMAN@STATESMAN.COM? ;

512-445-3907