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| Has America turned a corner on Iraq? |
| 2005-12-15 |
| by Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal EFL . . . One of the things I think the president communicated most effectively, if mostly between the lines, was the sense that some decisions a president faces don't promise good outcomes no matter which way he comes down. These are decisions that carry deep implications, and promise real difficulty. And one such was: To move on Saddam or not? Do nothing about Saddam, or nothing that hasn't been done before, and you keep in place a personally unstable dictator who has declared himself an avowed enemy of America, who will help and assist its foes at a crucial time, and who has developed and used in recent memory and against his own citizens weapons of mass destruction. Do nothing and you face the continuance of a Mideast status quo encrusted by cynicism and marked by malignancy. But remove Saddam and you face the cost in blood and treasure of invasion, occupation and the erection of democracy. It's all a great gamble. It could end with the yielding up of a new ruling claque as bad as or worse than the one just replaced. You could wind up thinking you'd bitten off more than you could chew and were trying to swallow more than you could digest. No matter what Mr. Bush chose, what decision he made, he would leave some angry and frustrated. No matter what he did, the Arab street would be restive (it is a restive place) the left would be angry (rage is their ZIP code, where they came from and where they live), and Democrats would watch, wait, offer bland statements and essentially hope for the worst. Imagine a great party with only one leader, Joe Lieberman, who approaches the question of Iraq with entire seriousness. And imagine that party being angry with him because he does. Mr. Bush chose to remove Saddam and liberate Iraq from, well, Saddam. And maybe more. Maybe from its modern sorry past. Pat Buchanan said a few months ago something bracing in its directness. He said a constitution doesn't make a country; a country makes a constitution. But today, in the voting, we may see more of the rough beginnings of a new exception to that rule. News reports both in print and on television also seem to be suggesting a turn. They seem to suggest a new knowledge on the ground in Iraq that democracy is inevitable, is the future, and if you don't want to be left behind you'd better jump in. One senses a growing democratic spirit. A sense that daring deeds can produce real progress. 'Tis devoutly to be wished, and all of good faith must wish it. . . . |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #3 Philosophy 101 - if a country wins a war, but the treasonous fifth column media refuses to report it, is it a victory? |
| Posted by: DMFD 2005-12-15 18:30 |
| #2 and...indiscriminately blowing up Sunni and Shia women and children. That was an indication the corner had been turned. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2005-12-15 17:32 |
| #1 The corner wasnt turned now was turned long ago when Al-terror resorted to attack Police stations as a means to stop Iraq-US cooperation. |
| Posted by: Unetch Flinetch3868 2005-12-15 16:17 |