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# Posted 1:26 AM by Ariel David Adesnik

IRAQ ISN'T VIETNAM -- IT'S WORSE: So says Krugman. Unsurprisingly, Krauthammer disagrees. While some may find it disturbing that critics of the occupation have resorted to the language of Vietnam so quickly, I am actually encouraged by it. Their cards are now on the table. Their reputation as analysts is now invested.

After one week of hard combat, the critics gave up on the occupation as lost. We heard that Sadr's militia represent the advance guard of a national Shi'ite revolt. We heard that Shi'ite and Sunnis were joining forces against the Americans. But now things are quieting down again.

To be sure, there is still no transition government to speak of. But the US seems to have built a good working relationship with the UN envoy to Iraq. What may emerge from that relationship is a government appointed by the UN but which will respect both American and Iraqi interests. With very mild justification, Kerry's partisans are now claiming that Bush is following Kerry's line on Iraq. Yet the Bush administration hasn't come close to the turning over the occupation to the UN in the way that Kerry and other Democrats have demanded. Rather, the administration has invited the UN to mediate critical disputes that the CPA couldn't handle by itself.

In the long run, the emergence of a healthy democracy in Iraq is still a longshot. But if the United States stays the course, it can shift the odds in democracy's favor.

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