The scenes of jubilation across Iraq have been a joy to watch, but they do give an excuse to retell one of my favorite (if possibly apocryphal) stories about General de Gaulle. Shortly after Paris was liberated in 1944 the General was marching down the Champs D’Elysee. He found himself mobbed by tens of thousands of adoring Parisians. One of his aides pointed out that, a few months before, there had also been large and enthusiastic crowds on the occasion of Marshall Petain’s last visit to the French capital. De Gaulle replied that he knew that. What’s more, he said, it was the same people who turned out on both occasions.