In the ebbing tide

I do not have a crystal ball.
I do not have a direct line to the White House, the Pentagon or to Langley.

I have to discern between conflicting stories. “We’re making progress….The war is going very badly.” “Islam is peaceful….Islam is jihad.” “Jihad is peaceful…jihad is war.” “There is a war…There is no war.”

But I haven’t been “overeducated into imbecility” and whatever the future holds, I say that deposing Saddam was, if nothing else, a noble, last-ditch effort to bring about much needed change and hope for a part of the world sorely in need of change and hope. If the Iraqi people realize the gift that they have been given and I like to think that they do, they will act on the opportunity and create a better world for themselves. Hopefully, in the process, other people in the area will see goodness and follow suit. Admittedly, we are in an ebbing time when that hope dims. Next week, things could look altogether brighter.

I think history will look favorably on Bush’s efforts no matter what the outcome of his grand experiment. Whether we succeed in changing the paradigm or we do not, no one can honestly deny that we tried to roll back a growing evil. Success or failure hinges on Iraq; a long oppressed nation with one of the largest oil reserves in the world and in the heart of the Arab world. A potential ally in a area where such an ally is sorely needed. The success may not be exactly what we hoped for, but failure will surely lead to what we have dreaded. It might well be that the “grand experiment” is thwarted. The Iraqis’ may never be able to grasp the ring. We may be forced to withdraw from the chaos and descend into the insanity of hell but history will record that we first tried to do otherwise.