[jessefan]

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/...news/9230.shtml

Journalist expresses optimism about Iraq's prospects

Alexander Maugeri
Princetonian Staff Writer

Despite "horribly inconsistent policies within the Bush administration," National Review Online journalist Andrew Apostolou explained Monday evening why he is hopeful for the occupational prospects of Iraq.

"Iraq in 2010 won't be a Jeffersonian democracy, but it will be much better off than when it started," he said.

Apostolou is also director of research for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, as well as a former writer for The Economist.

Citing "Germany and Japan as misleading examples," he predicted a future Iraq resembling modern Italy — "not the freest or fairest nation," but relatively stable.

Apostolou praised U.S. intervention and drew justification for it from Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons program and his repeated violations of United Nations sanctions.

As a British citizen, Apostolou said he felt personally responsible for Iraq since his nation single-handedly led to its undemocratic creation in 1922.

By February 2001, the Iraq issue was becoming internationally worrisome, he said. "Prior to 9/11, [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair approached President Bush and urged him to focus on Iraq in his term," Apostolou said.

Describing sanctions as "a waste of time," Apostolou said successful disarmament of Saddam necessarily included regime change. "[That] regime and weapons are part and parcel . . . you can't just take away Al Capone's Tommy gun and expect the threat to be resolved."

The alleged weapons of mass destruction program, Apostolou said, was better concealed during the recent conflict than in the Persian Gulf War. "Clearly there was a major intelligence failure going in . . . but the [United States] must stay on the ground until we get to the bottom of the WMD program."

Apostolou implored Americans to show greater resolution and patience with the occupation. The mounting criticism "all comes down to casualties," he said, calling this phenomenon a weakness exploited by terrorist.

Apostolou said his primary complaints with the war in Iraq involved its timing. "Bush should have gone to the U.N. immediately after his [axis of evil] address to the nation," he said.

The United States' eventual appeal to the international community represented a series of contradictory policies, he said.

"Based on the law of continuing force, built into the U.N. charter, [the United States] could have gone into Iraq at any time. Instead we went for international authorization while still maintaining our right to unilateral action," he said.

Though uncertain about definitive prospects for Iraq, Apostolou said things were going to be turbulent in Iraq for the foreseeable future. He said a cohesive Iraqi state, encompassing Shiite, Sunni Muslims and Kurds would be preferable, but did not preclude "a loose confederacy of states" from being able to achieve success.

"Trains certainly won't run on time, but remember that when they did we had the stability of the mass grave," he said.