In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq, citing weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons programs that were never found.

After the U.S. marched into Baghdad, victorious, we all too quickly realized why no one had ever taken out Iraq before, and why it was probably a very bad idea.

None of it should have been a surprise. Iraq was essentially three separate nations, held together by a strong force in a cult of personality, aided by U.S. weapons deals and tacit support.

Saddam Hussein may have not been a nice guy, but for many years, he was our “not nice guy.” And he alone managed to keep the chaos that is Iraq under some semblance of control. After a decade of hopeful purple fingers and deteriorating social conditions, exacerbated by sectarian violence and incursions in the western Al Anbar province by Syrian and Iranian fighters, who are now marching on Baghdad itself, the whole kit and kaboodle appears to be reaching its end point.

If we are very lucky indeed … and we have taken steps to ensure that the best possible horrible outcome does not happen for some odd reason … Iran will take over much of Iraq. The Shi’a population, already emboldened by Iranian fighters and their support, will seize control of the large mass of the country.

Kurdistan will become independent; Turkey for the first time has decided it would rather have a stable independent Kurdistan on its doorstep than a sectarian civil war. Wise choice.

That leaves Al Anbar, which is truly the wild west, populated mostly by the other sectarian group, the Sunni, who banded together once to defeat terrorists within their borders. It is unlikely they will do so now.

The Islamic State of Iraq and al- Sham, or ISIS, a team of elite fighting forces controlled mostly by Iran and Syria, is “pacifying” Anbar Province as we speak.

Amid the rampage, the quarter million soldiers trained under General David Petraeus before the U.S. pulled out of Iraq in accordance with the security agreement the Bush administration signed with Nouri al- Maliki, melted away from their posts. Seven thousand, mostly Syrian fighters, defeated a quarter million troops armed with American weapons.

Iraq is a failed state. It was a failed state from the moment Saddam Hussein was plucked from his spider hole.

We did not understand Iraq then, and we don’t now. We have to leave it to the people who do get it, who have longer memories than we have, and who have some skin in the game in the Middle East that doesn’t begin with O and end with L.

Iraq has asked for U.S. airstrikes.

We would be foolish to provide them.

The U.S. should get its embassy personnel out of the Green Zone, and hope that Iran is willing to do the heavy lifting on this. But that will mean that we have to not only stay out of the way, but bite our tongues about any new direction for the disaster area that is Iraq, 2014.

It was not helpful for Secretary of State Kerry to tell Iran, a nation of Shiites, that we would object to al- Malaki remaining in power. However painful the transition to a new, threestate solution in Iraq will be, we have to stand back and leave them to sort it out. Our interference has brought Iraq to this point. The least we can do is not compound our error by continuing to interfere.