They wear clothes...

"They wear clothes," your Air Force General Richard B. Myers sputtered, outraged, at his press conference yesterday with Rumsfeld, "like every other Iraqi."

He was referring, of course, to the perpetrators of the chow hall bombing in Mosul, where so many good people were killed, so many injured… So terrible. And yet, tragically, so predictable. Is it really any wonder that "they wear clothes like every other Iraqi"? I mean, that's who they are, Bush, isn't it? Iraqi citizens, some of them; others, fellow Muslims with angry, passionately-held beliefs. Call them fanatics, Bush (just as they call us infidels!) Call them terrorists. Call them insurgents… But from the point of view of this one, admittedly inexpert observer, it seems obvious that people with a passionate belief as their core idea--even if we consider that idea evil or fanatical or misguided, even if it's no better an idea than hatred for America and everything it stands for--these people will always win, eventually, over those trying to persuade them by force that their idea is wrong. I understand, Bush, that you believe that our idea of freedom is better for them than their idea of freedom--and you could be right; but I also understand that those resisting us don't see it that way.

Believe me, I'm not naive enough to think that they're nice people who do these things. Quite obviously they're not. All reasonable people must condemn their tactics. But this is not about "nice". It's not even about good and evil. It's about reality.

And about those good Iraqi citizens--those many who don’t take up arms against us, and might indeed have welcomed liberation from a terrible oppressor: what are they to think now, eighteen months later, living without security in their streets and homes, without the basics of water and electricity, without jobs, and beholden to an alien power for their protection? What are they to think of us, their liberators, who brought them an idea, yes, but nothing to back it up with in the real world in which they live? What if they think, as many Sunnis apparently do, that the vote we pride ourselves on having given them is worthless against the combined power of the Shiites and the Kurds? Of what value, then, is the one thing we lay claim to having achieved--or are about to achieve in the forthcoming election?

Bottom line, Bush: If we believe they'll be better off doing freedom our way--and even assuming this to be true--we will only persuade them with the power of more powerful ideas, through education, compassionate understanding, and the example of our action in the world. We won't do it by trying to beat them into submission. Because even people who use reprehensible tactics won't roll over just because we have superior military might. The Viet Nam model seems more and more appropriate in this tragic situation.

Wish I had better things to say to you, Bush, on the eve of Christmas Eve…