The price of gold passed $500 an ounce last week, its highest level since the late 1980s. This is an ominous development -- or it isn't.

Gold's Enduring Mystery

Iraq is not Korea, of course, and the Middle East is not Asia. But it is perfectly possible that the two conflicts might eventually resemble one another in the ambivalence of their conclusions. Although both the administration and its antiwar opponents speak as if there must be an either/or solution for Iraq -- either democracy or Islamic fascism -- it is perfectly possible that we end up with both. We may indeed create the first truly democratic Arab regime, with independent media, real elections and a relatively liberal political culture. But we may also, simultaneously, strengthen al Qaeda and its radical Islamic allies, in Iraq and the entire region. We may create a more entrepreneurial, globally integrated Iraq that can inspire economic reform throughout the Middle East. We may also create a deep well of international anti-American resentment that hampers our ability to conduct everything from trade negotiations to counterintelligence for decades to come.

It is even possible, in the end, that we really will help bring into existence a new generation of democratic Arab reformers across the Middle East -- and that we will need to keep troops in the region for five decades to defend them. Would such an outcome mean the war was a "defeat"? Not necessarily. Would it mean the war was a "victory"? Not exactly. Can we, the nation that invented the Hollywood happy ending, live with such a conclusion? Hard to imagine, but we might not have a choice.

It's Not Whether You 'Win' or 'Lose' . . .

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's tortuous defense of supposedly nonexistent CIA torture chambers in Eastern Europe was an acid flashback to Clintonian parsing.

Just as Bill Clinton pranced around questions about marijuana use at Oxford during the '92 campaign by saying he had never broken the laws of his country, so Rice pranced around questions about outsourcing torture by suggesting that President George W. Bush had never broken the laws of his country.

But in Bill's case, he was only talking about smoking a little joint, while Condi is talking about snatching people off the street and throwing them into lethal joints.

Maureen Dowd: Torturing the facts - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

It was a sad enough measure of how badly the Bush administration has damaged its moral standing that the secretary of state had to deny that the president condones torture before she could visit some of the most reliable American allies in Europe. It was even worse that she had a hard time sounding credible when she did it.

Secretary Rice's rendition - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

This week President George W. Bush will seek to focus attention on border security and immigration reform. But his proposals won't protect Americans from our gravest cross-border threat: the possibility that a ship, truck or train will one day import a 40-foot cargo container in which terrorists have hidden a dirty bomb or nuclear weapon.

Think inside the box - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

If anyone needs further proof that the United States is racing for the exits in Iraq, just follow the bouncing ball that is Rick Santorum. A Republican leader in the Senate and a true-blue (or red) Iraq hawk, he has long slobbered over George W. Bush. But when Bush went to Santorum's home state of Pennsylvania to give his Veterans Day speech smearing the war's critics as unpatriotic, the senator went missing in action.

as James Fallows writes in the latest issue of The Atlantic Monthly, if we're not ready to invest many years in building a real Iraqi army, America's only alternative is to "face the stark fact that it has no orderly way out of Iraq, and prepare accordingly."

Frank Rich: One war lost, another to go - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

If the United States leaves, Iraq will descend into a full-scale civil war. The Iranians will come in on the side of the Shiites. The Syrians, Saudis and God knows who else will be tempted to come in on the side of the Sunnis. The Turks will be tempted to come in to take care of the Kurds. We might be looking at the Middle East version of World War I

i was opposed to the invasion from the beginning
however now we have to deal with 'facts on the ground' rather than about the justifications for the war
should we withdraw quickly and watch Iraq collapse or stay and commit to nation building
it isn't like Vietnam where there was virtually a government in waiting
should we commit to a long occupation since the insurgents know there are political forces in the US and Britain pushing hard for a quick withdrawal so the insurgents from their point of view have the psychological upperhand, a short sharp aggressive push and the occupation forces pull out and the puppet regime swiftly collapses.
The article warns not just of a civil war but the danger of others being drawn in and a wider conflagration.
The war was immoral but do we compound the error by leaving swiftly and letting the state descend into anarchy or do we add oil to the fire by continuing an illegal occupation, act as a recuiter for al-Qaeda and unite those who oppose the occupation.
damned if we stay
damned if we leave

David Brooks: The importance of staying with Iraq - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

On the night of Aug. 22, 1991, several construction cranes and a crowd of about 50,000 determined people gathered in central Moscow to seal that promise of something better than Soviet misery. In front of the sinister KGB building, workers rocked, cracked and then toppled the formidable statue of Feliks Dzerzhinsky. This is the man who in 1917 founded the Cheka, the "Extraordinary Commission" that terrorized the nation with the arrests and brutal executions that became known as the Red Terror. This invention was the precursor of the KGB, the vast and brutal secret police and spy network that stood as a symbol of barbarism in the 20th century. The statue of "Iron Feliks" was relegated to an undistinguished patch of land behind the New Tretyakov Gallery. The "monster's graveyard" was a tourist attraction for Westerners, who enjoyed the sight of the scattered commissars, including Comrade Dzerzhinsky lying on his back, his steely glare aimed at nothing more than the gray Russian sky.

Earlier this month, with little fanfare but plenty of dreary symbolism, Dzerzhinsky was returned to a position of honor in central Moscow. It is nothan the gray Russian sky.

Earlier this month, with little fanfare but plenty of dreary symbolism, Dzerzhinsky was returned to a position of honor in central Moscow. It is not the same statue, and not the same site. Instead, Iron Feliks is a few blocks away at the Interior Ministry, his bronze bust back on a pedestal in the new Russian society.

ghosts
as if the new German Chancellor had permitted a statue of Himmler

Iron Feliks is back - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

Do you back the U.S. efforts to bring “Democracy” to the ME?
RESULTS:

Yes
( 50 %)

No
( 50 %)

some surprising
some strange
some bizarre
some scary
votes on aljazeera.com (in English)
plus check out some of the conspiracy theories

WHAT READERS THINK

Iraq detainees 'found starving'

There have been persistent claims of abuse by Iraqi security forces
Iraq's government says it has begun an investigation into the alleged abuse of more than 170 detainees held by Iraqi security forces in Baghdad.

u can't expect to change a culture overnight
evidence perhaps that it is unrealistic to expect to be able to withdraw Allied troops this year or next and leave behind a stable human rights observing democratic state
does anyone really expect an iraqi army capable of asserting its authority not to extend that authority to the political sphere and in the name of political stability conduct a coup d'etat

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Iraq detainees 'found starving'