The twilight of tyrants And the promise of liberal revolution

Boston Globe ^ | 4/13/03 | Paul Berman

[Valin]

THE TUMBLING STATUE of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad last Wednesday did look like something out of the revolutions of 1989, and this resemblance ought to plunge us into thought. A thousand experts have told us that, by fighting in Afghanistan and now in Iraq, America has thrown itself into the clash of civilizations, and that reality in the Muslim world bears very little in common with reality in the West. Even so, that falling statue looked exactly like one of those colossal statues of Lenin and the other Communist leaders that used to stand guard in public plazas all over Eastern Europe.

[Rudder]

...the arrogance (of Washington)that drove away some of America's potential allies in the months before the war.

I guess the treachery of France, Germany and Russia plays well in Boston.