Iraq isn't Germany

Once again, I read in the newspaper this morning that there are parallels between Germany in 1945 and Iraq now. Would that this were so. But isn't.

Starting at the top, George W. Bush isn't a reincarnation of FDR and Bremner was not Marshall. This was managed badly. But it must be remembered that the project was sold to the American people on two premises. First, that Saddam had WMD of which he must be deprived. Second, that the process would be brief and relatively inexpensive.

It would simply have been impossible to go into Iraq with the public knowing that they were looking at a trillion dollar cost stretching over a decade. It was a few tens of millions and we would be out of there in a matter of months. After WW II, we knew what we had to do in Germany, which was to make sure that we didn't do it again. The Germans were thoroughly beaten and knew it. They and everyone else accepted that they had started the war and however the Allies dealt with them, they had no moral cause for complaint.

The Iraqis could be, and generally were, grateful for the overthrow of Saddam, but they then wanted to run their own affairs. By our standards, they would have done so badly, but if ensuring that people have functioning democracies is an imperative, why haven't we invaded Burma or Zimbabwe?

When we leave Iraq, which can't be a moment too soon, we will leave a mess. Whenever we leave, and it's not likely to get any better. The world is full of messes. True, we exacerbated this one, but it's time to cut our losses.