I'm not saying it had nothing to do with it, rather that the region is something of a tinderbox to begin with. Removing the Iraq War from the equation doesn't remove all the other contingent factors responsible in setting off the Arab Spring.
I think the Iraq War's impact, if it did help the Arab Spring at all, was more as an object lesson demonstrating how incredibly pointless and ineffective armed struggle is in achieving change in the region. What brought down Ben Ali and Mubarak was due to circumstances specific to Tunisia and Egypt more than being a factor of what the US was doing to Hussein.
Totally right. The ideologues on the right are as stupid as the ones on the left promoting "cultural values" and waiting for the magical tolerance/cell phone brigade to bring democracy in spite of US greed. Strangely enough, the magical US military machine can't accomplish everything by marching in and imposing our will on 'dem nasty A-rabs, and this approach often brings HEAVY backlash.
(sarcastic)
Frankly, to try to impose our will like that on Muslim nations in general at all is pointless and stupid. This isn't some backwater Central American caudillo region here. These people can fight, always have, and if they couldn't, technology, warfare, and media is getting different.
I don't object to killing foreigners or covert action if the Prezzie knows what he is doing(which today's "conservatives" and especially neocons a la Cheney and Rummy most clearly don't, meaning that if they try it's just worse), but I insist that something concrete be accomplished by it. Otherwise, it just makes more attacks and backlash against us likely. Getting people to hate you in the long term is very stupid(which is also why I'm insistent that we get more competent dictators if possible). Potential partners or investments, or even people NOT completely hating us, is a pretty worthwhile goal.