New Romans Bearing Gifts

Submitted by Toby Petzold (United States), Apr 24, 2004 at 23:37

Debunking the false analogy between Germany and Japan's defeated acquiescence to Allied power and Iraq's pre-packaged off-the-shelf liberation in which the beneficiaries have no sense of sacrifice and accomplishment is right on. The Iraqi Ba'athists (mostly Sunni, I guess) and the Shia extremists didn't have the worst among them burned out and crushed enough for the message of democratization to get through. Maybe that was a strategic error, although we could hardly have gone in as liberators had we adopted less painstaking tactics. But, since we aren't leaving Iraq for years to come, anyway, the sword will continue to hang over the necks of the worst elements, while the rest of Iraqi society reconstitutes itself. I hope it begins right away with Fallujah. Just as with the benefits that will come with Sharon's extermination of Yassin and Rantissi, we can show that we have handled Fallujah with great patience and that, once a line gets crossed, the harshest consequences follow.

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