Blair on Iraq: Disaster or an Admission That Neither He nor Bush Have Any Foresight?

CNN reports on Tony Blair’s interview with David Frost, which is being touted by the left side of the blogosphere as a concession that Iraq is a disaster:

During the interview, Frost suggested that the West’s intervention in Iraq had “so far been pretty much of a disaster.” Blair replied: “It has, but you see what I say to people is why is it difficult in Iraq? It’s not difficult because of some accident in planning, it’s difficult because there’s a deliberate strategy – al Qaeda with Sunni insurgents on one hand, Iranian-backed elements with Shia militias on the other – to create a situation in which the will of the majority for peace is displaced by the will of the minority for war.”

Maybe the Prime Minister is correct to say he called Iraq a disaster is being a little disingenuous. After all – how could the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the President of the United States have realized that the Sunnis and Al Qaeda would exploit the power vacuum this invasion created? So their logic goes, but any thinking person would have realized this possibility before we decided to invade. So is Blair saying that he and George W. Bush are this incredibly stupid?

Update: Charles Krauthammer suggests we wash our hands of the entire Iraq mess:

We have given the Iraqis a republic and they do not appear able to keep it … Our objectives in Iraq were twofold and always simple: depose Saddam and replace his murderous regime with a self-sustaining, democratic government. The first was relatively easy. But Iraq’s first truly democratic government turned out to be hopelessly feeble and fractured, little more than a collection of ministries handed over to various parties, militias and strongmen. The problem is not, as we endlessly argue about, the number of American troops. Or of Iraqi troops. The problem is the allegiance of the Iraqi troops. Some serve the abstraction called Iraq. But many swear fealty to political parties, religious sects, or militia leaders … Such a coalition was almost created after the latest Iraqi elections. It needs to be attempted again. One can tinker with American tactics or troop levels from today until doomsday. But unless the Iraqis can put together a government of unitary purpose and resolute action, the simple objective of this war – to leave behind a self-sustaining democratic government – is not attainable.

If a Democrat suggested as much, the National Review would cry “cut and run”. But Krauthammer is saying we can’t blame Bush’s idiotic decision on 3/19/2003. But wait just a second – shouldn’t we have anticipated all of this before we made that stupid decision. Shorter Krauthammer – don’t blame us for our actions as we are too stupid to be held accountable for the mess we made.