I really wonder if it's possible to strengthen Sunni influence in Iraq to counteract the Shi'a majority's inevitable comity with Iran, as James Poulos suggests. At the end of the day, the Sunni minority is just that--a minority--and the Shi'a majority will understandably seek solace in the arms of Iran. I just don't see the foundations there to build institutions that will maximize our influence in the area, and since Iran seems to like Maliki just fine these days I think his position will get stronger thanks to Iran's help, and vice versa. That's what I'd do. It's good politics.
The good news is that an Iran-backed Maliki will probably have more muscle to bring things in Iraq under control, which means that a pullout next year might not be as catastrophic as once believed. The bad news might be that Iran will have a new friend, but I'm not really that worried about Iran. A nation with the GDP of the State of Alabama that aborted their attempt to make a nuke in 2004 is lower on my list of concerns than many other things. My opinion for Iran's centrality on the right wing's paranoia fantasy is that they just really don't like anyone who disagrees with them, and they really hate anyone who does it forcefully. Just look at the volumes of bile dredged up at the Corner whenever Hugo Chavez or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are mentioned. Neither one is, like, a huge threat to America in and of themselves, and there are certainly people who are both more despicable and more powerful than those two goons. But they criticize Bush and their conception of America very starkly. This is a good sign that you know you're dealing with extremists--hell, they went into arias of hatred about Howard Dean, who was pro-gun and balanced budgets. But he had the temerity to speak with an ounce of passion and anger, which the right wing does not let stand. There's plenty of anger on the left side of the spectrum as well, but Michael Moore (for example) is nowhere near the vicinity of the level of hatred in his projects that these folks have for him.
