Tuesday, September 14, 2004

The Most Wrong of Messages

Via Andrew Sullivan:

Newsweek reports on the growing rebel movements in Iraq. From where I sit, it would seem that the recent upsurge seems to be following 1) the negotiated cease fire with al Sadr and 2) recent capitulations to hostage takers. Please recall that the Falluja seige started once an arrest warrant for murder was issued for al Sadr and that it ended with a negotiated settlement that essentially said, "Never mind."

The situation in Iraq is missing the mark in one very important area: Violence must not be the most effective, or at all effective, manner in which objectives are accomplished. The provisional government, and its American allies, has to ensure the monopoly on violence. That was the way that Hussein ensured his rule, and now the new government has to prove that it has it and is much, much more benevolent with it.

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