:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 ::

From Baghdad to Manila - Another lousy analogy for the occupation of Iraq. By Fred Kaplan: "From Baghdad to Manila
Another lousy analogy for the occupation of Iraq."

The comparison between Iraq and the Philippines may be more accurate than the one between Iraq and West Germany, but it is hardly more comforting. In fact, it is so discomfiting—it implies such a dismal forecast for America's occupation in Iraq over the next several years (for that matter, the next few decades)—that it's hard to imagine Bush would have made such a remark if he'd understood its full implications.

It is true, as Bush noted, that the Filipinos endured 300 years of Spanish rule and that they achieved independence in 1946. But Spain ended its rule in 1898. What happened during the 48-year unmentioned interregnum? Nothing pleasant, if the point of the inquiry is to seek parallels with Iraq after Saddam.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2003 04:30:00 PM [+] ::
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