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David Lloyd George Dubya

...I'll start off with a polemic cunningly disguised as a book recommendation. David Fromkin's book A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East is a meticulously and brilliantly told tale, a great work of popular history. It is also a primer on a historical episode with which everyone in the Iraq debate should be familiar: the period following the First World War during which the British Empire redrew the map of the Arab world.

...This is the story: a great empire, the strongest military power in the world following the defeat of its principal competitor, decides to take over the Middle East and modernize it by force. The empire's motivations are complex: grand dreams of altruistic uplift, long-term security concerns, and craven resource-grabbing all mixed together. Hopeful speeches are given about democratization, reconciliation, liberation. Pious assurances are made about respecting the interests of all ethnic groups and creating an environment in which all can live in peace. At the same time, there is condescending talk about the failure of Islamic culture, the inability of Arabs to govern themselves, the need for friendly rulers who will keep their countries on the approved path.

The overthrow of the tyrannical rulers of Mesopotamia turns into a costly and bitterly resented occupation. Tribal revolts wear down the occupiers; they respond with brutality that only creates more resentment. The empire grows exhausted. For all its wealth and power, it is stretched thin; it has too many overseas commitments for its shrinking army and shaky treasury to support. The traditional liberties the homeland once enjoyed are worn down by the demands of war. The empire slides toward socialism at home even as it struggles to hold on abroad. In the end, it leaves the Arabs fractured and downtrodden, ruled by puppet kings, and thereby lays the foundation for even more hatred of the West.

Sound familiar?