The most amazing thing to me...
Suppose America had made our plans taking into account the long history, the unfamiliarity of the Iraqi people with concepts of equal protection under the law (more important, actually, than democracy, which can still abuse minorities) and we made our plans differently.
Different than we did.
Are there any plans that would have transformed the assumptions and attitudes of the Iraqi people in three or four years?
Let's get some liberal social scientists on this one, okay? How long to tranform... given a "psychological program"... how long to transform attitudes? Consider the age of the population, quite young, flexible, how long until children have never really known any different?
Oh yeah, we screwed up because we didn't have a plan that would do all that in THREE FREAKING YEARS.
So let's give up... leave them to figure it out themselves, since it's ultimately up to them.
At the same time, let's explain why we have *any* social assistance program longer than three years and why we view our own disadvantaged groups and their learned cultures as requiring anything more than a stiff scolding and let them sink or swim on their own effort.
Hmm?
Anyone paying attention NEVER had any illusions about how long this process would take. Or else they are just lying.
Suppose America had made our plans taking into account the long history, the unfamiliarity of the Iraqi people with concepts of equal protection under the law (more important, actually, than democracy, which can still abuse minorities) and we made our plans differently.
Different than we did.
Are there any plans that would have transformed the assumptions and attitudes of the Iraqi people in three or four years?
Let's get some liberal social scientists on this one, okay? How long to tranform... given a "psychological program"... how long to transform attitudes? Consider the age of the population, quite young, flexible, how long until children have never really known any different?
Oh yeah, we screwed up because we didn't have a plan that would do all that in THREE FREAKING YEARS.
So let's give up... leave them to figure it out themselves, since it's ultimately up to them.
At the same time, let's explain why we have *any* social assistance program longer than three years and why we view our own disadvantaged groups and their learned cultures as requiring anything more than a stiff scolding and let them sink or swim on their own effort.
Hmm?
Anyone paying attention NEVER had any illusions about how long this process would take. Or else they are just lying.
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