"Winning the Peace"

As a champion of the principle of individual liberty that America was founded upon and opponent of the collectivist trends that have been sucking America into state-sanctioned group warfare, I have grave concerns about Iraq's prospect of becoming a secular state with American-style individual rights. The picture is darker still when you figure France, Germany, Russia, China, the Arab League and the U.N. into the equation.

To the administration's credit they have been factoring these greedy forces out, but I have yet to hear what values will be the basis of the new Iraqi government. General Garner says, "Our only requirement is that it be a form of democracy," but this alone is not enough. There must be a constitution which guarantees individual liberty, separation of church and state, and separation of economy and state. (Fat chance on the latter, since even America hasn't managed that yet.)

Robert Tracinski explains the situation perfectly: "In the long run, it is only by protecting the liberty and independence of the individual--not by keeping Iraqis ganged together into warring clans--that "Operation Iraqi Freedom" can succeed."