Middle East fears broken Iraq
By Jeremy Bowen
BBC Middle East Editor

There was a time in 2003, between the removal of Saddam Hussein and the start of the insurgency, when you could stroll through Baghdad down to one of the teahouses on the banks of the Tigris without worrying too much about getting kidnapped or blown up.

For those few months, supporters of the Iraq war generally felt pretty good about the way things had gone.

No weapons of mass destruction had been found, but it was just a matter of time.

Yes, there had been looting and banditry, but it would pass.

It seemed, to the instigators and supporters of the war, that the dream of the American neo-conservatives was coming true.

Iraq was being remade a beacon of democratic values. It would become such a successful friend of the West that all its neighbours would want to copy it.

Of course, it has been clear for some time that the neo-con dreams were delusions. But they should not be forgotten, because they are, after all, a big part of the reason why we all ended up in this mess.

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