Archive for December 23, 2006

Getting out of Iraq

Americans who are dissatisfied with how long it is taking to make Iraq into an independent democracy should review their own history. Our Declaration of Independence did not receive the initial two signatures until 3 years after the Boston Tea Party, and the last signature was not added for another 5 years. The British Empire did not agree in writing to the new government for another 2 years at the Treaty of Paris. The interim required involvement from, among others, France, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, and American aborigines. Even then, it was another 77 years before our greatest internal contradiction was squarely addressed, and that required Civil War. But of course we began with an advantage. We began with a people who had some concept of self-government.

|