mugged by reality
from The Economist, 22 May 2007
How different it looks four years on ... it has
inflicted fear, misery and death on its intended
beneficiaries. “It is hard to imagine any post-war
dispensation that could leave Iraqis less free or more
miserable than they were under Mr Hussein,” we said four
years ago. Our imagination failed. One of the men who
took a hammer to Saddam's statue told the world's media
this week that although Saddam was like Stalin, the
occupation is worse ... Such has been Mr Bush's failure
that the autocrats of the Middle East say that they are
trying to rescue Iraq from America and America from
itself. It really is a debacle.
What a waste. Most Iraqis rejoiced in the toppling of
Saddam. They trooped in their millions to vote. What
would Iraq be like now if America had approached its
perilous, monumentally controversial undertaking with
humility, honesty and courage? Thanks to the almost
criminal negligence of Mr Bush's administration nobody,
now, will ever know.