US lowers expectations for Iraq
Well, the US government, anyway. I seem to recall a certain vocal minority saying all along that this is how it would turn out.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081300853.html
“The goal now is to ensure a constitution that can be easily amended later so Iraq can grow into a democracy, U.S. officials say.”
Until someone else forgets that too.
Also:
“Washington now does not expect to fully defeat the insurgency before departing, but instead to diminish it, officials and analysts said. There is also growing talk of turning over security responsibilities to the Iraqi forces even if they are not fully up to original U.S. expectations, in part because they have local legitimacy that U.S. troops often do not.”