REGIME CHANGE ALWAYS AND THE SOONER THE BETTER:

Conflicts Shaped Two Presidencies: U.S., Iraq Continue to Experience Aftereffects of Their Confrontations (Peter Baker, 12/31/06, Washington Post)

The day after he ordered a cease-fire and brought the Persian Gulf War to a close, President George H.W. Bush ruminated about the status quo he had left behind in Iraq. "Still no feeling of euphoria," he dictated to his diary Feb. 28, 1991. Saddam Hussein, he recognized, remained a threat. "He's got to go," Bush concluded.

It took nearly 16 years, but he's finally gone.

With Saddam swinging I figured it was a good time to read Con Coughlin's bio, King of Terror. Beyond Saddam's own insensate evil three things really stand out:

(1) How badly the Brits and we screwed Iraq up by pretending there was such a thing, rather than allowing it to remain dividing in three as it had been under the Ottomans.

(2) What a relentlessly poisonous role the French, in general, and Chirac, in particular, played there. The latter even got the Iraqis to change the official name of the Osirack nuclear reactor, which he played a central role in building for Saddam, because his political opposition was using the rhyme against him.

(3) How disastrous the decision to leave Saddam in place in 1991 was for the people of Iraq. Imagine what we'd think of FDR today if he left Hitler in place once the rest of Europe was liberated?

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 31, 2006 9:51 AM