WHAT IS the greatest danger facing America as it tries to rebuild Iraq: Shiite fundamentalism? Kurdish separatism? Sunni intransigence? Turkish, Syrian, Iranian or Saudi Arabian meddling? All of those are real problems, but none is so severe that it can’t readily be handled. More than 125,000 American troops occupy Mesopotamia. They are backed up by the resources of the world’s richest economy. In a contest for control of Iraq, America can outspend and outmuscle any competing faction.
The greatest danger is that we won’t use all of our power for fear of the “I” word–imperialism. When asked on April 28 on al-Jazeera whether the United States was “empire building,” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld reacted as if he’d been asked whether he wears women’s underwear. “We don’t seek empires,” he replied huffily. “We’re not imperialistic. We never have been.”
