Some wisdom from the delusional haze

Thomas Friedman remains in a delusional haze still believing that the War in Iraq can still be won, but out of that haze comes some wisdom.

The Bush team early on compared the fall of Saddam's statue in that Baghdad square with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Wrong. The Berlin Wall was a completely artificial barrier that had no organic connection to the society it was repressing. Once that wall was removed, the free-market, civil society and democratic traditions that were already there in places like East Germany, Poland and Hungary could resurface. All we had to do was get out of the way.

In Iraq, and in Palestine, when Saddam and Yasir Arafat toppled over like walls, their disappearances did not leave behind civil societies yearning to be free, united and democratic. Saddam and Arafat were products of their societies more than we want to admit - not artificial impositions.

In the long run their departures are huge opportunities. But in the short run they have left behind two pots that are boiling over - two highly tribalized societies, full of pent-up problems, with few civil society institutions or consensus leaders. They left behind two huge rebuilding challenges. The Bush team helped remove the lids off both these pots. But the first rule of cooking and warfare is: Never take the lid off a boiling pot unless you also have a strategy for turning down the heat. President Bush had a lid-removing strategy only. He's been improvising on the heat part ever since.

Did you get that, "Saddam and Arafat were products of their societies more than we want to admit - not artificial impositions." He is absolutely right. The problem in the middle east since the 1920's has been a complete ignorance of the society and the culture by those in the US and Europe who are in power. In addition, the western power brokers have had no interest in learning about the culture only in changing it. Unfortunately, the majority of the people in the middle east don't want to change. The arrogant ignorance of the Bush administration is not new only more obvious. Colin Powell told Bush about the Pottery Barn rule, maybe he should have told him about the boiling pot rule as well.

The delusional haze in Friedman's world seems to be getting a bit thinner. Even he thinks it's becoming increasingly unlikely that Bush will find the heat controls. I for one never had any doubt that the pot would boil over. Now it's time to get out of the way so we won't get burned anymore by splashing boiling water.