A Case of Liberation

WHEN the United States and its allies went into Afghanistan and Iraq, they liberated about 56 million people. Those people had suffered under two of the most brutal regimes imaginable. A lot of people choke on that word, “liberated”-for others of us, it is entirely appropriate.

The scope of this achievement-the liberation-is almost too great to comprehend. Too many lives, communities, and situations are involved. But can we focus on merely one case-that of the “Marsh Arabs,” in southern Iraq? Saddam Hussein succeeded in destroying the environment in which they lived; he almost succeeded in destroying the people themselves. Now those marshes are coming back, and the people are coming back, too.

About the Author

Jay Nordlinger

Jay Nordlinger was a senior editor of National Review and a book fellow at National Review Institute.

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WHEN the United States and its allies went into Afghanistan and Iraq, they liberated about 56 million people. Those people had suffered under two of the most brutal regimes imaginable. A lot of people choke on that word, “liberated”-for others of us, it is entirely appropriate.

The scope of this achievement-the liberation-is almost too great to comprehend. Too many lives, communities, and situations are involved. But can we focus on merely one case-that of the “Marsh Arabs,” in southern Iraq? Saddam Hussein succeeded in destroying the environment in which they lived; he almost succeeded in destroying the people themselves. Now those marshes are coming back, and the people are coming back, too.