Comparing Reconstructions

Here's an article that I've seen linked to in a couple of places, but is worth linking to here: David Ignatius compares the postwar reconstruction in Iraq to that of the Civil War. Unfortunately, Americans seem stubbornly averse to learning from history.

One thing is for sure: The Iraqis can outlast us; it's their country, and sooner or later (more likely sooner) the American people are going to get tired of the effort, and the dead soldiers coming home, and we will leave whether our goals are accomplished or not.

While I'm on ths subject, there's another article here that discusses the Rand Corporation's sharply critical report about how the Iraq War has been handled, especially the failure to plan for postwar recontruction and the assumption that the task would be easy.