In Iraq, A Lesson Learned?

Is America catching on to what it didn’t last year: that the establishment of order is the key to waging a successful political struggle? Right behind the forces about to retake Fallujah are a shadow government, police to protect them, and loads of reconstruction money.

One wonders why we didn’t do this in Baghdad. Rumsfeld had trained thousands of Iraqi paramilitaries, but they were led by Ahmad Chalabi, whom the CIA and State Department despised. There was no excuse for the looting and chaos, and Bush was right to fire Garner for letting it happen, but wrong not to intervene in the battle between Powell and Rumsfeld from the start.

But just today, something horribly ominous. Iraqi police attacked and under siege for an hour, fighting to the last man, waiting for help that never comes. That’s not how you build confidence among your allies.