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Back in 2002, when George W. Bush was thinking about invading Iraq, his secretary of state, Colin Powell, warned the hawks around the table about the possible consequences, coming up with the Pottery Barn Rule: if you break it, you buy it.

“You are going to be the proud owner of 25 million people,” Mr. Powell warned. “You will own all their hopes, aspirations and problems. You’ll own it all.”

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Bush’s hawks thought Iraqis would welcome their American liberators, and that a democratic Iraq would be such a powerful example that Iranians would soon be clamouring for a similar government.

It hasn’t worked out that way. As many as one million Iraqis have died and the Iranian mullahs are stronger than ever. The Washington Post reported this week that Firdaus Square, where Iraqis pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein in 2003, now features a billboard of the late Ayatollah Khomeini.

U.S. President Barack Obama has been forced to back Iranian-supported militias to bring order to what remains of the country and to fight ISIS.