We Broke It, We Bought It

In a civil and spiritual sense, Iraq was broken long ago by the Tikrit mafia.  In a geopolitical sense, the damage is entirely our responsibility.  For those who affect to base their foreign policy on morality, we are obliged to remain in and rebuild Iraq to ensure that our actions (both courageous and dreadful) have the most just possible consequences.  More pragmatically, we would do well to reinforce our pose as Iraq’s liberators by demonstrating the patience, commitment, and respect necessary to restore civil society to a country (and a region) long deprived of it.  Unfortunately, the Bush Administration doesn’t have a very good track record when comes to such details.  We broke it, we bought it, but we’re not too keen on paying for it.