[toyg]

... ironically ending up bolstering an already-active adversary in the region, Iran, by removing its “natural predator”.

Foreign-policy circles are full of people who think they are the smartest guys in the room, when they are anything but. Dr.Strangelove is alive and well.

[MockObject]

That's correct! On the other hand, I remember Scott Ritter predicting that 2003 would bring an invasion of Iran as well, so the extended remix of the plan was supposed to handle Tehran, too.

[Gibbon1]

After the invasion of Iraq US Army was barely able to keep their supply lines open and that was without the Iranians being overtly hostile. It's no wonder they weren't able to even consider invading Iran.