US and the World

An Australian view

War may prove more of a blunder than a crime - www.smh.com.au

I found this view from Australia both balanced and challenging - certainly one of the better takes on Iraq I've seen. Here's the cnclusion:

And Washington has yet to resolve the dilemma at the heart of the Iraqi project - that a truly democratic Iraq will most likely be weak, unstable, theocratic and anti-American. To avoid these risks the US will need to take a lot of time - not months, but years - to build not just new institutions but new attitudes.

At five deaths a week, that time will be bought at a terrible cost. Bush's biggest failure was that he did not prepare the US for - and perhaps did not understand himself - the scale and cost of the task that he has committed his country to perform. It is now clear the problem the US has faced in post-Saddam Iraq is not one of poor planning, but of misconception. If, as Bush so often affirms, he and his country are willing to stay the course and pay the costs needed to build a stable and responsible government in Iraq, history will judge the decision to invade kindly.

If not, this week's capture of Saddam will not save the invasion from Talleyrand's merciless judgement.

Posted by Greg Stone at December 17, 2003 10:23 AM