Looters

New information suggests that some of the iconoclastic looters who tore into Iraq's prestigious museums in the past week had keys, plans, and international backing. Doubtless.

However, that's clearly not the case with those who stole AC units from the Ministry of Agriculture or wooden doors from police stations. So who are these people? Largely, they are Baghdadis. Some impoverished (people taking doors, for instance), but plenty of others are just as likely to be middle to upper class Iraqis. In fact, who knew better where to find TV's and AC's than those who worked in the offices they looted? With no guarantee of a job, the least they could to insulate themselves was to take their, ahem, office supplies with them.

So I don't really blame the looters. They did what any uncontrolled mob of people lacking a social contract or police force would do. Humanity is fallen, and uninhibited people tend to display the worst of humanity. No society is perfect, but most if not all are an improvement on the "state of nature."

That said, I don't blame the U.S. either. The Iraqi people are shortly going to possess one of nature's most valuable endowments, and they need to steward it responsibly if they are to build a stable, successful nation. The U.S. should not have to treat Iraqis like children, holding them back to protect what is rightfully theirs. For that is indeed how a child must be treated: a loving parent restrains and disciplines a child, and eventually teaches him to manage on his own as an adult. The United States has no children, and Iraq has existed as a coherent nation for long enough to have an excellent understanding of the need for social contracts. They must rediscover their own grassroots self-governance, which is not identical to - but is equal to - the type found in America.

Let the withdrawal begin.