A Pilgrim’s Digression

Much of the news today is about what happens after the war is over. Bush and Blair are meeting in Northern Ireland to discuss that very prospect, and the conference is being compared to the Yalta summit after World War II. All this leads me to ask, shouldn’t they already have had a post-war plan for Iraq in the pipeline? When America entered World War II in late 1941, there were no prospects of a quick war. Therefore, there was no need to immediately begin planning for the post-war period. In December 1941, people probably weren’t even sure which side would win. In the present war, there has never been any doubt who would win, and even the direst predictions of how long the war would last gave it a timeframe of a couple months, no more. Again, before the first shot was fired, should we not have already had a solid idea about what we would do after winning the war? The idea that here we are, apparently just days away from the conclusion of formal hostilities, and we don’t know what to do next or whether or when the U.N. will take control of rebuilding Iraq … this concerns me. It concerns me far more than actually engaging in war ever concerned me. A peaceful, democratic Iraq is the only result that makes this war worth fighting. A peaceful, democratic Iraq is the only result that rebuilds our reputation in the world and, hopefully, stems the flood of hatred for America rampant in the world today. Everything depends upon a peaceful, democratic Iraq.