Impure Thoughts

I tried to read the latest David Ignatius column all the way through. Really I did. Here’s how far I got:

The Bush administration’s new initiative to encourage democracy and reform in the Arab world has all the solidity of a hot-air balloon. It’s floating grandly toward Planet Arabia, while down below the people who would be affected by it are variously taking potshots, running for cover or scratching their heads in confusion.

Are we really going to make this mistake again? To state what should be obvious after the reversals of the past year in Iraq: The idea of Arab democracy is meaningless unless it begins at home, driven by an Arab agenda for change, rather than by outsiders.

He’s trying to make a good point. And he’s trying to make it well.

But part of me is so angry after yesterday’s bombing, that all I could think was, “Isn’t it time we made that American sentiment ‘Live free or die’ into a goddamn ultimatum?”

I’m not proud of that thought; I know, logically, it’s an oxymoron. And yet. . .