Amir Taheri has written an excellent op-ed in the New York Post. Below is a excerpt:

May 4, 2004 -- "WHAT to do about Iraq? I was bombarded with this question during a recent visit to the United States.

The question is based on two assumptions. First, that Iraq is about to plunge into one of the nightmare scenarios discussed by self-styled experts on TV. Second, that there is some kind of magic wand that one could wave to transform Iraq into a paradise of freedom and prosperity.

Both assumptions are false.

The nightmares are often peddled by those who had opposed the liberation because they didn't wish to see a U.S.-led coalition bring down a Third World dictator. The doomsayers' initial prediction was that, deprived of its oppressor, Iraq would plunge into civil war. That has not happened, so they now warn of chaos, and predict a nationwide insurrection against the Coalition.

But is Iraq really plunging into chaos? Anyone in contact with Iraqi realities would know that the answer is: No. . . .

What to do in Iraq? The answer is simple: Don't lose your nerve!

Yes, Iraq can become another Vietnam - not because of anything that's happening there, but because America and its allies, for reasons of domestic politics, might panic and transform victory into defeat."

"If you laid them end-to-end they would still point in all directions."

That seems to be also true of columnists.

See link for a differing view.

between an Iranian who has spent most of his life in the Middle East and recently returned from Iraq, and a liberal columnist sitting in a comfortable flat in London.

RLTW

-- Modified on 5/5/2004 10:26:27 AM