Duncan Black Strolls Down Memory Lane...

...And finds David Ignatius in October 2002:

Eschaton: Listening to the Wise Old Men of Washington: David Ignatius, 10/06/02:

Many analysts warn of the disasters that await in this postwar Iraq, but frankly I'm not convinced. Yes, Iraq is a country with many ethnic groups that don't always get along. And, yes, there will be a risk of revenge killings and general mayhem as the millions of Iraqis who suffered from Hussein's torturers seek to settle scores. But these strike me as manageable problems.... Maintaining order will be essential in the first weeks and months after Hussein and his secret police are gone, and Washington should be training military police....

Iraq is probably more ready for democracy than any nation in the Arab world. That's partly because its people have suffered so much from the cruelty of the current regime. But it's also because the Iraqis are the most likely Arabs to build a truly modern nation. For centuries, Baghdad has been a center of learning.... It was no accident that Iraq was the only Arab country with the scientific brainpower to mount a serious nuclear weapons program....

[T]alk of Iraq's internecine strife is overblown.... [T]he Shiites of Iraq are Arabs who stayed loyal to Hussein.... Iraq's Shiite elite has been the country's leading modernizers, supplying more than their share of scientists and engineers...

Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?