A nice corrective to western egocentrism, but it's really not all about the Iraqis. The Sudanese have suffered as much or more, but no one, enlightened or otherwise, is sending in troops to kill the fascists and enable democracy's march in Sudan. Obviously, some nations matter more to us than others. Korea matters more than Timor. Iraq matters more than Somalia. As noble as your sentiments are, realpolitik still matters. As do idealism and democracy promotion. The challenge is to get the balance right, at the right time, in the right places. The timing will vary-- Wolfowitz was right to wait until 1986 to urge Reagan and Shultz to drop Marcos and embrace People Power in the Philippines, for ex.-- but one thing should be obvious: the theater that matters most to us this decade and the next and the one after will be the East Asian one. Japan is more important to us than France; India's more important than Germany. One of the more annoying aspects of the anti-Bush brigade is the obsession with Europe. The axis of history no longer passes through Berlin; it now runs from Washington to Tokyo, Beijing and Delhi. Let's hope that Rumsfeld, Cheney and Rice continue to shift this nation's orientation westward. (Ho.)