OP-ED: Why I Have New Hope for The Mideast, By Robin Wright, Washington Post, March 2, 2008; Page B01

The ultimate legacy of Bush's "big bang" strategy, a decision I supported then and have always supported (even when I, at times, disagree vehemently with how the White House had played many of the resulting scenarios--specifically Iran), is that it did change everything in the region. We do a great job on postwar Iraq and we change everything. We do a bad job on postwar Iraq and we change everything. Either way, we change everything.

Yes, there is plenty of anti-Americanism in the Middle East, and especially anti-Bush sentiment. But here's the deal, there's no pre-Bush thinking left there. Everyone's been forced to move on in some sense.

That's Bush's real legacy and its huge. I didn't say positive or negative, but huge. Anything that big will be debated forever.

But I'll say again what I've said many times: yes, I would do it all over again knowing what we now know. I say this for two reasons: you don't go to the Middle East and occupy a large nation to impose your identity, but you sure can find one there. The Army and Marines are finding one. The Navy and Air Force lag but not that badly. The Middle East is finding a plethora of new identities. No one's been left unchanged--not even this White House. The next one will be significantly impacted too.

Again, it's a huge legacy.

(Thanks: historyguy99)