The Best of Uncommon Commentary: Failed State-smanship, Too

Domestic and foreign critics have been pressing for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to resign, and the country's vice-president has asked the parliament to convene tomorrow to begin the process of forming a new government (within the same parliamentary system).  I don't disagree that the current PM is a failed leader, but what Western diplomacy still doesn't seem to comprehend—Eleven days ago, President Obombast called for "inclusive" government in Iraq, as if the Sunni Islamists, who appear to be well on their way to a takeover of the whole country, would be satisfied with a larger share of power in a ruling coalition!—is that Iraq is a failed state.  In UC #3, I referred to Iraq's government as "terminally ill"; to see what the rest of the world ought to have done instead of imposing such a regime upon the Arabs and Kurds in that land, revisit the penultimate paragraph of said posting. (Then, read the rest of it!)