Umm Qasr, Success Story

If this story is correct, the way the British are handling the civilianization of Umm Qasr should serve as the template for the way regime change should be handled in the rest if Iraq. Rather than having "leaders" just appearing, as seems to be happening other places in Iraq, in Umm Qasr the military is organizing things based upon locals handling the work, but a Colonel making sure that some semblance of order and fairness are followed. As I keep saying, it is crucial that we pursue the peace with the same competence that we used to pursue the war.

Beside the inherent problems of democracy, we are seeing some of the ugliness inherent in theocracy. While it is all fine and well to establish a democratic template for the future governance of Iraq, we must remember the tendency for the majority to establish a tyranny of its own. We must guard against that happening at all costs, otherwise most of the accomplishment of our victory over the despot may be lost.