The Good News and Bad News in Iraq

Fareed Zakaria has a nice piece on the current state of affairs in Iraq. Nice quote:

The vacuum is being filled by the U.S. Army, which has been building bridges and schools, securing neighborhoods and power plants and, yes, adjudicating claims between Turkomans and Kurds. It is doing these things because someone has to. Secretary Rumsfeld has long argued that American troops should never engage in nation building, leaving that to locals. But while we waited for Iraqis to do it, chaos broke out and terror reigned. So the Army on the ground has ignored Rumsfeld's ideology and has simply made things work. (It's a good rule of thumb for the future.)

Yes, it's usually a good idea to ignore the guidance of any bumbling buffoon, even if he is the Secretary of Defense or even a President.