I’ve been reading my WORLD magazine for November 22, 2003. The front page has a picture of Jackie Kennedy, her two brothers-in-law and the children–Caroline and little “John-John.” There’s a piece inside by someone named Uwe Siemon-Netto about his recollections of the Kennedy assassination. I remember that I was in first or second grade and the principal announced over the intercom that the president had been shot. I think my teacher cried.
Actually, I was more interested in the article about Iraq in the same magazine. US administrator Paul Bremer, according to WORLD, seems to be fine with the imposition of Shariah law in Iraq–as long as no one gets their hand chopped off. Does this mean that stoning adulterers is OK? Or that women will have to wear burqas? I’m not sure Americans are going to be very happy to see our guys dying and getting wounded so that Islamic fundamentalists can oppress their own people–with or without the consent of the majority in Iraq. After all, the majority of Germans supported Hitler, but we won the war. And we didn’t allow any Nazis back into power in Germany. I know it’s not exactly analogous, but we need to be thinking about the long-term interests of the Iraqi people and of the US. Mabe we need to impose our values for long enough to let the Iraquis try them and see if they like Western-style freedom.