Remaking Iraq in Our Image

Manifesto

I have to say that I agree with Monocle that the I don't really care about the hubbub surrounding Saddam's execution.

That said, I still think the whole thing has a couple of interesting elements that sum up many aspects of both the Bush Presidency and our little adventure in Iraq.

First, you've got the generally poor timing with the Ford funeral, effectively knocking that off the front page for a couple of days.

Second, you've got the clearly political nature of the timing, like all decisions of this administration, coming as it did just before the President is going to propose an escalation in the number of troops in Iraq despite the fact that only 11% of Americans support such a policy. (Hell, even the troops don't support it.)

And, of course, you've got the degrading conduct of the executioners, who, as many have noted, with their ski masks looked much like the terrorist killers of Daniel Pearl, but, in my estimation behaved more like the torturers at Abu Ghraib.

But the thing that strikes me as the most amusing corollary is how the actions of the Iraqi government in responding to this crisis have almost exactly mirrored the crisis management strategies employed by the Administration.

As soon as the video surfaced showing the degrading treatment of Saddam, the Iraqi government began an investigation ... into how the video got out. The problem isn't the degrading treatment, but the fact that evidence of that treatment made it to the public. Sure, it looks like one person may be publicly reprimanded, but the stories make clear, the problem that needs to be addressed isn't the bad conduct but the fact that those responsible got caught. As such, the messenger needs to be discovered and properly punished.

We've seen this story too many times over the last six years to count. From the aforementioned Abu Ghraib scandal to the warrantless wiretaps to Richard Clarke to Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson, the Bush Administration has made such behavior their calling card.

Well, at the very least we can consider this evidence that we really are exporting our brand of democracy to Iraq. Way to go!