Precedents provide reasons for pessimism on Iraq
: "Richard Perle, the influential conservative defense analyst and adviser to the administration, has been on tour to talk about his new book, An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror. Mr. Perle thinks that, contrary to the impression given by all those bombs going off and Shiites massing to protest against us, American policy is working just fine. But when he is asked for precedents that suggest the United States can succeed at occupying and transforming Iraq, he replies with airy nonchalance, 'I don't think there are relevant precedents.'
Actually, recent history is replete with examples of military powers intervening in other countries and finding themselves faced with violent opposition. What Mr. Perle might say if he wants to be precise is that there are no precedents that bode well for this undertaking.
Milt Bearden, a 30-year CIA veteran and former manager of clandestine operations, has surveyed the record and notes a sobering fact about the 20th century: 'Every nationalist-based insurgency against a foreign occupation ultimately succeeded.' Not some of them; not most of them. Every one of them."
- posted by geoff @ #