The US has warned Iran on 'meddling' in Iraq days after Coalition forces seized several Iranians from diplomatic premises in the northern City of Irbil. Of course in this war of claim and counter claim it is impossible for us to know who is telling the truth: Bush or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Whether Iran is funding and fuelling the insurgency to any great extent or not, it has certainly taken the number one spot in the USA's blame list. Since the start of the war trouble in Iraq has been blamed on:Ba'athists - Loyal to Saddam and hoping to re-instate him.Nationalists - Some of whom hated Saddam, but they hated the invaders more.Syria - aided and abetted Arab Jihadists from the Middle-East and North Africa in entering Iraq, or at least turned a blind eye to their presence.Radical Shia - Sectarian Attacks and ethnic cleansing of some areas.Al-Qaeda - Trying to destroy the occupation to rid Iraq of American Influence.Iran - Possible end goal of a Shia state. All of the above are either perfectly plausible or known to be true. They do however forget the biggest culprit of them all in the destabilizing of Iraq. The USA.The roots go right back to the pre-war rhetoric. Operation Shock and Awe was not about saving Iraqi people, it was about destroying and dispiriting them. The war itself was conducted in a manner which would alienate Iraqi support for the invasion: civilian targets were repeatedly hit with only arrogant dismissal coming from the US high command by way of an excuse. Prisoner abuse came next, despite it being obvious that few of those in custody had the kind of evidence against them that would be required by a western court before being held on remand. By the time of the Haditha Massacre (no doubt the tip of the iceberg of extra judicial killings) the seeds of hatred were already sown. It is not a coincidence that the "hearts and minds" approach of the British in the South has had more effect. It is probably too late for the USA to adopt a conciliatory approach to Iraq. It is probably too late for the USA to achieve anything in Iraq. That said, if the USA took the advice of the masses and tried to involve Iran and Syria in a solution, then maybe Iraq would have a future. To do so requires more humility than anyone in the Bush administration has. del.icio.us tags: iraq, warming, al-qaeda, shia, sadr, blairs, uk, invasion