A BITTER AFTER TASTE

The news from Iraq that Islamic terrorists
have now taken over cities that American
troops liberated during the Iraq war must
have left an especially bitter after-taste to
Americans who lost a loved one who died
taking one of those cities, or to a survivor
who came back without an arm or leg, or with
other traumas to body or mind.
Surely we need to learn something from a
tragedy of this magnitude.
Some say that we should never have gone into
Iraq in the first place. Others say we should
never have pulled our troops out when we
did, leaving behind a weak and irresponsible
government in charge.
At a minimum, Iraq should put an end to the
notion of "nation-building," especially nation-
building on the cheap, and to the glib and
heady talk of "national greatness"
interventionists who were prepared to put
other people's lives on the line from the
safety of their editorial offices.
Those who are ready to blame President
George W. Bush for everything bad that has
happened since he left office should at least
acknowledge that he was a patriotic
American president who did what he did for
the good of the country -- an assumption that
we can no longer safely make about the
current occupant of the White House.
If President Bush's gamble that we could
create a thriving democracy in the Middle
East -- one of the least likely places for a
democracy to thrive -- had paid off, it could
have been the beginning of a world-changing
benefit to this generation and to generations
yet unborn.
A thriving free society in the Muslim world,
and the values and example that such a
society could represent, might undermine the
whole hate-filled world terrorist movement
that is seeking to turn back civilization to a
darker world of centuries past.
But creating such a society, if it is possible at
all, cannot be done on the cheap, with
politicians constantly calling for us to
announce to the world -- including our
enemies -- when we are going to leave. The
very idea is silly, but everything silly in not
funny.
We haven't yet announced when we are
going to pull our troops out of Germany or
Japan, and World War II was over more than
60 years ago. Turning those militaristic
countries around was one of the great
achievements in human history. Their
neighboring countries have been able to
enjoy a peace and security that they had not
known for generations.
Perhaps what was achieved in Germany and
Japan made it seem that we might achieve
something similar in Iraq. But "the greatest
generation" that had fought and survived the
horrors of war around the world was under
no illusion that trying to turn our defeated
enemies around would be easy, quick and
cheap.
Creating democracy in Germany and Japan
was a goal, but not a fetish. Creating a stable
and viable government amid the ruins and
rubble of war was the first priority and a
major responsibility. You cannot create
instant democracy like you are making
instant coffee.
There are prerequisites for a free society, and
the foundations of democracy cannot be built
on chaotic conditions with widespread
uncertainty and fear. To hold elections for
the sake of holding elections is to abdicate
responsibility for the sake of appearances.
The biggest danger is that you will create a
government that will work at cross purposes
to everything you are trying to achieve -- a
government you cannot rein in, much less
repudiate, without destroying your own
credibility as representatives of democracy.
That has happened in both Iraq and
Afghanistan.
By contrast, in both Germany and Japan
power was turned over to elected officials at
such times and in such degree as conditions
seemed to indicate. Eventually, both countries
resumed their roles as sovereign nations. But
we didn't publish a timetable.
Today, with terrorists threatening to at least
fragment Iraq, if not take it over, it is a
sobering thought that Barack Obama and his
key advisers have a track record of having
been wrong about Iraq and other foreign
policy issues for years, going back before they
took office -- and no track record of learning
from their mistakes.