The New Era in Iraq

The New Era in Iraq - David Warren has a fascinating look at the curve-balls we face in governing Iraq.

Asked what his greatest challenge would be, [incoming administrator Gen. Jay Garner] said: "Everything is the challenge."

A remarkably calm, folksy, understated man, Lt. Gen. Garner (Ret.) would not have been kidding. Repairing infrastructure (including the large south Baghdad electrical plant that was more effectively sabotaged than first reports indicated -- U.S. and Iraqi engineers have been working on it day and night) will be the least of his problems. The central task of Iraqi reconstruction is political -- to create a viable civil order in the face of decades of savage tyranny, and the kind of pent-up social forces that were exposed in e.g. former Yugoslavia when Communism fell.

On the plus side, the Bush administration has learned much by studying what went wrong in places like former Yugoslavia. On the minus side, the challenge of Shia Islamism may make Balkan troubles seem like flies at a picnic.

That's just the exposition. Read the whole thing - it's excellent.

Posted by Mitch at April 23, 2003 12:59 PM