THE U.S. OCCUPATION of Iraq is still in its early stages. It is ludicrously premature to call it a failure, as some critics already do. Assuming that the United States and Britain keep their nerve in the face of growing guerrilla attacks, there is little doubt that they can still make good on George W. Bush’s pledge, delivered in a speech on Tuesday, that “there will be no return to tyranny in Iraq” and that “those who threaten the order and stability of that country will face ruin, just as surely as the regime they once served”. But even if things ultimately work out well–and the odds are that they will–it is not too soon to ask what went wrong. This is not to cast blame but to do better in Iraq–and in the next country that needs to be rebuilt. Liberia, perhaps.
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