By PLS
A mathematician I know has just pointed out that Ethiopia is better at conducting regime change than the US is. The Ethiopians rumbled into Somalia, drove out the Islamists, re-installed the beleaguered transitional government in Mogadishu and are now withdrawing—all in a few weeks’ time. They know that invaders and occupying powers are never welcome—or not for long—even after they've managed to do a much needed job.
OK. OK. The parallels aren’t perfect, but it’s worth thinking about.
And now, like a bankrupt gambler desperately in need of a twelve step recovery program, President Bush wants to send more troops to Iraq.
How many ordinary citizens in Baghdad are going to feel unalloyed joy about having more Americans on the street? Even if the troops say "ma'am" when they demand to search the house. Even should they say "Sorry!" when carting off a defiant son as a suspected insurgent.
How many really bad guys are going to stick it out in Baghdad when the place is yet more ostentatiously overrun with Americans?
Does anyone really believe that when and if Baghdad (and only Baghdad) is secured the whole country will suddenly become a lovey-dovey menage à trois?
A statue of Saddam Hussein came down a few years ago, but you can be sure that a statue of George W. Bush the Liberator (in naval pilot jump suit perhaps?) will never go up.