I’m afraid the editors of the New York Times may be right:
Americans continue dying in Iraq, but their mission creeps steadily downward. The nonexistent weapons of mass destruction dropped out of the picture long ago. Now the United States seems ready to walk away from its fine words about helping the Iraqis create a beacon of freedom, harmony and democracy for the Middle East. All that remains to be seen is whether the White House has become so desperate for an excuse to declare victory that it will settle for an Iranian-style Shiite theocracy.
The Iraqis seem to be on the way to making Islam the supreme law of the land. And ironically, two myths of Western culture are what have led American leaders to be so blithe to this turn of events: a distorted multiculturalism that thinks every way of thinking is worthwhile and an overconfidence in the democratic process.
The distorted multiculturalism prevents us from telling the Iraqis that some of their ideas are unwise or wrong, and our overconfidence in democratic elections fools us into thinking that a just political system will spring forth even from a culture devoid of a just political tradition.
Whether or not he was right to invade Iraq, President Bush initiated a grand political experiment that requires more commitment and time (educating the Iraqis and shepherding the formation of their government) than any of our political factions seems willing to give.