The coming war and the weight of history
So now that we're going down the last few steps toward war I still don't think that we know enough about what we're going to do after the war.
I feel a bit better about the coming conflict after Colin Powell's speech to the United Nations. I still think we're doing this without as much effort at avoiding armed conflict as we could have undertaken.
Sometimes I think about what this all will look like in a historical perspective. Especially given that history is written by the winners. It seems this could be a great victory for the world if we somehow back Saddam Hussein down and successfully, through concerted efforts on the part of all of our allies, institute a regime that is truly free and reflects the will of the Iraqi people.
My real concern is that we, in an effort to 'apply military credibility' to the (previously ineffective) rhetoric of the United Nations, we may have overplayed the 'overwhelming force' card. I'm truly afraid that by pounding so hard on the drums of war, we have created an environment in which we're putting an irrational and dangerous regime in a position in which they don't feel they have any choice but to take as many people as possible 'with them' as they go down.
I have to trust that there are some folks that are much smarter than I am making sure that's not happening. I hope to god that History doesn't classify this coming war as a terrible price to pay for such a small improvement in a troubled region.
Our legacy, our hopes for peace, our commitment to a world unified under the ideas of democracy and tolerance. We'll see how they survive the next few months.
