Republican Government.

Interseting discussion at Winds of Change about what to do in Iraq. Here is my take:

So is republican government possible in Iraq? Yep.

Will it be done in 3 to 5 years I had originally hoped? Nope.

So the question is: do we have the courage and will to see it through the 10 to 30 years it will take. (Think South Korea - economically liberal, politically rigid to start. Now economically liberal and politically much less rigid. It only took 30 years of occupation to do that. Taiwan went through a similar process - one party rule until recently.)

Be nice to find a politician with the guts to say this:

"I am not going to tremble before a bunch of psychopathic suicide bombers and mass murderers and I am not going to surrender our rights or the rights of the Iraqis."

Truman said this about South Korea:

"I am not going to tremble like a psychopath before the Russians and I am not going to surrender our rights or the rights of the South Koreans." (Harry S. Truman)

They Don't Make Democrats Like That Any More.