Exporting Democracy: What Have We Learned from Iraq?

"Mr. and Ms. Left, tear down these words: Totalitarianism, Imperialism. No, I don't mean that our voices ought not to roar against these bad, brutal things, just that we should stop using these terms. Once they had value; now they function increasingly like langue de bois, as the French call it, wooden language, jargon, substitutes for substance or knowledge, especially local knowledge . . . of Iraq, for instance. In books, op-eds, and sound bites, we are treated to a parade of authorities, many of whom could not have found Kirkuk on a map five years ago. Some of the war's planners seem to have been clueless about political geography and political cultures. If you listen to some antiwar activists, you would think that "Shaat al-Arab" is what a drawling Texan president wanted to boast after blowing away Saddam with a six-shooter.