Europe reconsiders

Twenty years from now, of course, everyone will have been supporters of the principle of promoting democracy in Iraq: the opposition to the war was of course that we weren't acting fast enough to bring it about, and that the EU and the UN had to drag the recalictrant US kicking and screaming to fullfill its obligations under international law.

Case in point this article in today's International Herald Tribune "Europeans seek role in training Iraqi police":

"Whether the training is outside or inside Iraq, I think there is a new mood among the Europeans," said Daniel Keohane, military analyst at the Center for European Reform in London. "There is a realization that if Iraq is to be stable, secure and have its own forces, it is going to require huge amounts of help - and that it is going to take a very, very long time."