We Accept

One foreign skeptic apologises for ever doubting us and admits that George W. Bush was right all along. Well, on many things anyway.

There have been other operational failures and mishaps for sure. Need the Iraqi army have been dissolved so soon? Could Al-Sadr have been dealt with more sensibly? Could the elections have been held sooner? And so on.

None of this can take away from the fact that the broad contours of the Anglo-American effort have been reasonably successful so far in achieving both strategic and tactical aims that many in the world share — some openly and candidly, some silently and furtively lest they jump into the well of political incorrectness. It is however too soon and quite silly to declare victory. An enterprise of this kind and magnitude involves enormous risks and great uncertainties. While playing Cassandra is not desirable, neither is a naive optimism justified.