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The Perils of Nation-Building, Part 2

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Part 1 | Part 2 Giving up on expansive nation-building ambitions is the only sensible course of action, for there are few successful models upon which to draw for Iraq. America’s obvious successes are Germany and Japan, yet neither looks like Iraq: both comprised ethnically homogenous populations, possessed democratic traditions, and sported an educated, professional class. The U.S. effort was widely viewed as legitimate by all major international players and the two countries’ neighbors, which had suffered the most at their hands. While many Germans and Japanese seemed to hold the same mixture of feelings evident in Iraq — relief at foreign liberation but resentment at foreign occupation — they had no illusion that American rule would be brief. Not so in Iraq. Abu Eslam Saqir, a spokesman for the Iran-friendly Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said, We wanted the international community, including ...

The Colombia Quagmire, Part 1

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“THIS IS NOT VIETNAM,” declared Vietnam-era draft evader Bill Clinton on his arrival in Colombia last year. Alas, while the continents may be different, the conflicts offer eerily similar potential as quagmires for the United States. “This is always how it starts,” warns writer Patrick Symmes. But there’s still time to stop. As Symmes rightly observes, “Colombia isn’t Vietnam in 1965. It is closer to Vietnam in 1955.” Colombia has been in crisis for nearly four decades, besieged by left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, and well-funded drug producers. Like so many Latin American governments, that in Bogotá has majored in financial corruption, economic collectivism, and human-rights abuse. The ugly result is poverty, death, fear, cynicism, and despair. Colombia is one of seven nations expected to suffer severe food shortages this year. Those with money wall themselves into guarded compounds or flee the country — nearly 1 million out of a population of 40 million have emigrated over the last five years alone. ...

Service to Whom? Part 1

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Part 1 | Part 2 Service has a long and venerable history in the United States. It has perhaps become a cliché, but Americans' generosity and penchant to organize to meet community needs were both noted by Alexis de Tocqueville in his classic, Democracy in America. And so it continues today. Three-quarters of American households give to charity. Some 90 million adults volunteer; the value of their time has been estimated by Independent Sector to approach $200 billion. Volunteerism gains ever greater political appeal as the "age of politics," historian Paul Johnson's label for the 20th century, winds down. Today, even liberals are championing civil society. Herds of politicians now say that families and communities, not governments, hold the answer to America's social problems. Explains President Bill Clinton: "Much of the work of America cannot be done by government, much other work cannot ...