This seems a somewhat tendentious reading. What he said was that Iraq was a "a bag of snakes," which, as metaphors go, doesn't seem too far off base. What exactly he meant by it you'd have to ask him, but when I read the piece, I took it to be a comment on the country's bitter and inveterate sectarian and ethnic antagonisms.
I kind of liked the War Nerd piece. Some regrettable turns of phrase, but viewing that ghastly cell-phone video, I too was impressed. I wouldn't have gone as manfully as Saddam did, I know, and can't help admiring, with all necessary qualifications, anyone who could.
-- --Michael J. Smith --mjs at smithbowen.net
http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org