Egressing the Fortress

The President has an historic opportunity, a chance to redo history and do it right. The French, always obstreperous, always with a sense of their own importance, have provided him with the perfect opportunity.

France insists on playing a leading role in the rebuilding of Iraq. Perhaps that is exactly what Bush should make sure happens. Rather than beating around the bush (no pun intended) and continuing the argument about who gets to be in charge in Iraq, let’s just put France in charge. Let’s let them send their troops there. Let’s pull out ours.

It’s Dien Bien Phu in reverse (except, unlike the French, we didn’t lose the battle or the war first). It would be nice to think of France struggling to straighten out Iraq and deal with the Middle East.

There’s an old saw, “beware of what you pray for.” Or as we continentals like to put it, “prenez garde pour de ce que vous priez.” The French are so hell-bent on a major role in the peace, maybe that would be suitable, even ironic.

Seriously, though, now that we’ve had a good laugh at France’s expense, it might be worth learning something from their own imperial adventures and failures. Most notably Algeria. They, along with the rest of continental Europe, want a quick withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq, and it is nice to see that despite the haze of tough talk from the Administration that is precisely what is happening.

Already there are stories floating around about how the U.S. may decide to pull its troops out of cities there to reduce tensions.

Good idea. Has someone at the Pentagon been reading this writer’s earlier columns? (Ridiculously unlikely.)

More to the point, has someone finally figured out that the only real goal of the war, unseating Saddam and reducing Iraq’s influence or even potential influence, is already accomplished? The endless discussion about bringing democracy to someone else’s country has the hollow ring of a parent lecturing a teenager. Or in this case a middle-aged child lecturing a failing parent.

There is nothing less appreciated, or listened to, than unasked for advice. That is true whether you’re talking about people or nations. The UN nations didn’t cotton much to Bush’s advice about how they should conduct their foreign policy. He didn’t much cotton to what they advised, either.

Germany will get involved in Iraq , according to its Chancellor Gerhard Shroeder, in an Op-Ed in the N.Y. Times Friday. This is a conciliatory gesture, suggesting that it’s time we all get over it, and get on with the inevitable.

The inevitable that the cynical French learned the hard way in Vietnam and Algeria. And which we may learn at a much cheaper price. In fact, a few weeks ago about 40 of Rummy’s boys watched the ”The Battle of Algiers,” the 1966 movie about France’s Algerian fiasco. Now it’s time to learn the hardest of all lessons History teaches: That you can’t ever really win a war. (With the exception of the Roman’s victory over Carthage.) You can only beat back the opposition and slam the manhole cover down on them one more time and, even then, just for a while.

The inevitable ebb and flow of history is about beating back the forces you are in conflict with, if you are lucky, in a ghastly, endless dance that kills a bunch of people and lasts a long time. But one that doesn’t wipe you out, or bring about a terrible dark ages that takes centuries to recover from.

Not a pretty picture, I know. I know.

Perhaps if I believed enough, then I could paint you a rosier one. But those who believe more are the very ones that send generation after generation to the front…from both sides.

While good may be more on one side than the other, the matters are almost always less than 100 percent clear. Certainly there is plenty of blame to spread around in the Middle East, if you care to go back far enough in time and include the empires that ran roughshod over the people there for thousands of years.

It takes passionate blindness to think, yet again, that there's some war that will end all war. It's this passionate, blind belief in the existence of such a final war, on both sides (of whatever issue is of the moment), that has kept humans at war since the beginning of recorded history.

And it will continue to do so, if we are not careful, until history is truly ended by Armageddon. Unless we learn to be a bit real politik about our battles, and know when we've won, if not all, enough. ¶ 3:48 PM