Arthur Silber reads David Brooks, and finds him saying the darnedest things:

Brooks then describes how “order” and “obedience” will save us individually, and society in general, from our own depravity. He also says:

“Iraq has revealed what human beings do without a strong order-imposing state.”

If the horrors of what we have done in Iraq were not so overwhelming, the ironies in that single sentence would be delicious. In one sense, I suppose this represents an improvement: it’s no longer simply that the “ungrateful” Iraqis are awful, and unable to appreciate the marvelous “gifts” we’ve bestowed on them. No, now it’s that all human beings are rotten. And I must admit I derive no small amount of enjoyment from seeing those who championed this criminal catastrophe – and who vilified everyone who opposed it as being “pro-Saddam” and “on the other side” – finally reduced to impliedly saying themselves that Iraq was better off with Saddam. (Many Iraqis have been saying this for some time.)

Read the rest.