May 27, 2004
Downsizing Expectations
An interesting editorial in yesterday's New York Times by Fouad Ajami on the national perception of the Iraq adventure. He was an early supporter of the war, and to his credit admits what many of us have been saying throughout - nation building doesn't work when a nation doesn't want to be built.
It's going to be interesting to watch how the Bush administration spins Iraq in its second term (which I strongly suspect is inevitable). Bush's right wing chorus will continue to talk about how horrible the old regime was and proclaim lies about Saddam's ties to terror. But we are clearly not going to get anything approaching"liberty" or"freedom" as we think of it there, and we may in fact get an antagnostic government once we pull out. Of course by then Bush jr. will be giving talks in Japan and watching his brother run for president from his ranch in Texas.