PEACE PRIZE?

David Brooks observes:

If there were any justice in the world, George W. Bush and Tony Blair would share the next Nobel Peace Prize. They have destroyed a regime that caused more Muslim deaths than any other government in history. Over the past few days we have seen jubilant crowds. We have seen kids freed from a children̢۪s prison where they were jailed for not joining the fascist youth brigades. We have seen men released from torture centres, where, just hours before, they were forced to endure the last sadistic spasms of the Baath regime.

Quite so but, as Brooks knows, Saddam Hussein is more likely to get the prize posthumously than Bush and Blair.

And, a bit of compare and contrast is always a fine way to start the day:

And yet there are no triumphal arches being erected in Washington. If this were one of Carlyle’s heroic ages, President Bush would address a joint session of Congress with a box at his side, and he’d pull out a severed head, declaring: “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Saddam Hussein!â€

But nothing of the sort is going on now. The mood in the White House is calm and corporate. President Bill Clinton banged bongos and lit cigars on the days of his minor triumphs. That̢۪s not the Bush way. Throughout this war White House aides have been subtly disappointed that there hasn̢۪t been more electricity in the air around the Oval Office. They grew up watching those movies about the White House at war, and expected high drama. Instead they got methodical problem solving.

Yup.

Before I quote the whole damn thing: Go read it all.

(Hat tip: RealClear Politics)

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.