Christopher Hitchens, (as always) a good read, has some thoughts about the past year from the left. Or perhaps no longer from the left--many of them now disown him. Whatever his other beliefs, he's clearly not an idiotarian.

I disagree with him on Iran--he seems to confuse support for the government there with support for the aspirations of its people, but he's definitely a Brit who understands America, and that it is not just a country, but an idea.

I especially enjoyed a grin upon reading, om Afghanistan, "Here is the first country in history to be bombed out of the Stone Age."
But yes, he does seem a bit confused about Iran. There are two governments there, and the final rule is in the hands of the fundamentalist mullahs; until their power is torn away, hopefully from within (which daily seems more possible), there can be little done.