A few days ago, I posted some observations from an anonymous analyst on the deterioriating situation in Iraq.  At about the same time, Tom Ricks, one of our most insightful reporters on Iraq and the Middle East, was coming to many of the same conclusions.

It’s too early to tell how this will play out, but paying former Ba’athists to do what they were going to do anyway (kick out foreign religious fanatics) never seemed to me like a viable long term strategy.