You are the new Saddam

Voici les propos du célèbre columnist du NY Times Thomas Friedman, rapportés dans l'édition de mars 2006 du magazine de mode Esquire (je suis en retard dans ma lecture de magazine):

Let's start with one simple fact: Iraq is a black box that has been sealed shut since Saddamcame to dominate Iraqi politics in the late 1960s. Therefore, one needs to have a great deal of humility when it comes to predicting what sorts of bats and demons may fly out if the U.S. and its allies remove the lid. Think of it this way: If and when we take the lid off Iraq, we will find an envelope inside. It will tell us what we have won, and it will say one of two things.

It could say. "Congratulations! You've just won the Arab Germany - a country with enormous human talent, enormous natural resources, but with en evil dictator, whom you've just removed."

Or the envelope could say. "You've just won the Arab Yugoslavia - an artificial country congenitally divided among Kurds, Shiites, Sunnis, Nasserites, leftists, and a horde of tribes and clans that can only be held together with a Saddam-like iron fist. Congratulations, you're the new Saddam."

In the first scenario, Iraq is the way it is today because Saddam is the way he is. In the second scenario, Saddam is the way he is because Iraq is what it is. Those are two very different problems. And we will know which we've won only when we take off the lid. (The New York Times, 23 janvier 2003)

Pouvons-nous ajouter quelque chose de plus, sinon que tout n'est pas blanc et noir. La situation n'est pas aussi polarisée qu'on le croit. Dans la dernière édition de l'Actualité, un expert au moins affirme que la situation se stabilise en Irak, que les attentats sont plus rares. Et que la situation est à peu près normale chez les Kurdes, qui jouissent pleinement de leur libération du joug de Saddam.