The High Cost of Democracy. Over on Sean's blog, he makes the point that the Bush administration made a lot of mistakes in preparing for and handling the invasion of Iraq and its occupation. He is also troubled that no one in the administration seems ready to admit that they made some very important mistakes. I agree that the administration made a lot of mistakes. Its possible that people in the administration are ready to admit them, but I haven't heard any mea culpas. Maybe its too early. Maybe its hubris.

There is an excellent opinion piece in the WSJ today, and you don't have to be a subscriber to read it. Its called A Time for Humility and is written by Eliot A. Cohen. Its about Iraq, and the title speaks for itself. Its well worth reading. The author enumerates many of the mistakes that the Bush administration made.

War is a very blunt instrument of foreign policy. Furthermore, it is an instrument in the hands of "government" and "government" is by its very nature exceedingly inefficient, which is why we want to keep it small. But if you have a very high view of government, if you are a positivist, as most Democrats are, then it is exceedingly upsetting to see the sorts of mistakes that the Bush administration made and those mistake are grounds for resounding, even righteous condemnation. If you are a positivist, you believe not only that government should have done better, it could have done better.

But if one has a low view of government, then you, instead, marvel that anything positive was accomplished at all, and, instead of roundly condemning the players, President Bush, Ms. Rice, Mr. Rumsfeld, you begin to admire them for taking into their hands a very difficult task, using the blunt instrument of war, the corrupted nature of politics, and, with God's help, accomplishing something that may be doing some good.

Speaking of how government works, whether in Republican or Democratic hands, somehow Brenner's administration in Iraq lost track of $8 billion. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.