Via Sully, a sobering assessment by Judah Grunstein: (My emphasis.)
… I’ll preface it by emphasizing that I’m not drawing a moral or methodological equivalency here, but simply a structural and functional one. Namely, as the glue that holds Iraq’s disparate parts together, the U.S. is now playing the role that Saddam Hussein formerly played in Iraq, and we’re playing it for the same reason that we were willing to tolerate Hussein for as long as we did: to contain Iran’s regional influence. What’s more, it’s a role that has once again led us to ally ourselves with some unsavory and unpredictable characters, all of whom have their own agendas that don’t always correspond to ours. And short of the improbable appearance of an Iraqi strongman in the structural, functional (and moral) image of Saddam Hussein, it’s a role that only we can play.
Is this what Cheney wanted – to bind the hands of his successors?