I received this email from Robin Wright at the Washington Post in response to this earlier post:

Jonah –
Someone forwarded your comments to me. Never hesitate to contact me
directly. I’m always grateful for input, including tough criticism.
I haven’t done a 180. I stand by everything I said on Larry King. The
point of the article in The Washington Post was really to look at US policy
and contrast the early goals in 2003, on the eve of the Iraq invasion, with
what has happened since then politically in Iraq. In the article, as on the
show, I pointed out that Sistani and others have rejected the idea of
theocratic rule, or the Iranian model.
I suspect the criticism stems from a bit of confusion about the point
I was trying to make; I fully accept the blame in perhaps not making it
well enough. The fact that the winning parties have had close relations
with Iran does not mean in any way that they favor rigid theocratic rule.
They don’t — or at least have said so repeatedly in recent weeks and
months. There’s a big difference between having relations with Iran and
liking its sytem — as we see even among our European allies, who have
diplomatic and extensive commercial relations with Iran but reject its
political system as undemocratic. I think the majority of Iraqis,
especially those who voted, share that view.
As I pointed out in the piece, there are other significant
differences. Perians and Arabs have longstanding disputes. And religious
bonds have not yet bridged national divides. Iraq’s Shi’ites did not defect
during the Iran-Iraq war, which I covered, sometimes on the front lines,
for most of the 8 years.
At the same time, however, the winners in Iraq’s election are vastly
different from what the US intended to see replace Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Iraq’s new government also may have differences of opinion with the US when
it comes to issues that involve both Iran and Iraq, such as on oil policy
and on what the US might do to Iran in the event of a breakdown in talks on
Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program.
I wish I had more time to go over these issues, but I at least wanted
to make a brief stab at explaining what you felt were discrepancies.
With regards,
Robin Wright