Bruce,
Well thought out and well presented, and pretty much my thoughts exactly. On the subject of the occupation (or the postwar war) it is very easy to 2nd guess, but perhaps harder to go back in time (backtesting, I think we might call it) to come up with a foolproof plan. The prison scandal is, well, a scandal, but mostly a scandal of stupidity (digital cameras? amateurs in control? yes). Other than that, I think only the extremely naive would believe that the occupation would not have been either extremely messy, given the tremendous things at stake, of interest not only to the Iraqis and their immediate neighbors, but to all the world powers, many of whom have been aligned against us for decades (take France, puhleeeze) or that we would be greeted and feted with gratitude for any appreciable amount of time.
On one matter, and I mean no disrespect to Ed at all in this, it is merely an observation of mine over our many conversations, Ed and many of his group, having been scarred by the Vietnam experience (either in person, that is in service, or on the homefront) cannot get beyond Vietnam to a world where armed conflict takes its rightful (but regrettable) place in the relations between nations. We'd like to hope this doesn't have to be the case, but it often does. To remember Vietnam and forget WWII or the Cold War is to remember only a flawed execution of that regrettable necessity.
And one problem is that they remember Vietnam wrongly, or at least partly wrongly. No, it was not a glorious war, but it was an important battleground against communist expansionism in Southeast Asia. It was very clear, from the aftermath of 1975, what the communists had in mind for SE Asia. Vietnam fell, then Cambodia with its 2-3 million massacred in the killing fields, but Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries were kept safe. Free. Free? What does that mean, ask the cultural relativists? Well, see my little disquisition on the economics of freedom for Korea, below. But the memory of the Vietnam War is told by the media, the real victors in the war itself (as I have noted and referenced earlier).
Korea was another messy battleground war (but one which, thankfully, the NYT and the WP did not sell out our soldiers on), but if you want to look at the difference even a flawed war can make, look at the 18 million starving people of North Korea and the 49 million thriving, free people of South Korea. GDP per capita (it is important to recall that the industrialized north was richer than the agricultural south before the days of Kim Il Sung et fils) for South Korea now stands at almost $20,000 per person, while in the North it is just a shade over:
$530 PER PERSON!
nationmaster.com
nationmaster.com
Now I know that, to the left, focusing on something as vulgar as material wealth (forgetting as they do that material wealth translates to healthy babies, healthy psychologies, freedom and personal growth, in addition to full bellies and long lifespans) is almost irrelevant. Teresa Heinz (she earned her money the old fashioned way, she married a pickle and ketchup heir!) is probably a big fan of North Korea and Fidel, as long as she gets to keep her 5 homes and her 6 SUVs.
Kb |
