Return to Baghdad
: I started reading Sean Penn’s story of his return to Baghdad, a year and a war later, with trepidation (a reader sent me a warning shot). But I was surprised to find a more balanced and open view than I’d expected:
For Iraqis, there was no pro-war or anti-war movement last spring when the United States invaded their country. That, in their view, was a predominantly Western debate. They’re used to war; they’re used to gunshots. What’s new is this tiny seed and taste of freedom. It is a compelling experience to have been in Baghdad just one year ago, where not a single Iraqi expressed to me opinions outside Baathist party lines, and just one year later, when so many express their opinions and so many opinions compete for attention. Where the debate is similar to that in the United States is over the way in which the business of war will administer the opportunity for peace and freedom, and the reasonable expectation of Iraqi self-rule.
Even Sean Penn sees that it’s not as simple as war=bad.
: Andrew Sullivan had a similar reaction. He says: “But it is good to see the left regain some of its moral bearings and also see the good that we have done.”
