I just hope Garner is as effective at facilitating the construction of civilization as Bushie's Boys were at deconstructing one.

Garner said one very interesting thing: "The Iraqis are going to be founding fathers....."

Great idea, if true -- I mean a truly great idea. Because there aren't too many ways to do it, if you take the job seriously. You _have_ to think seriously about what workable social schemes would look like, what principles are lasting and important, how to balance the ebbs and flows of power, and so on. I would love to see what a Muslim culture can produce as a better way.

The Franco-American version had one blessing in it which will be tough for them - our FFs were capable of stepping outside the constraints of religous beliefs and asserting that they had no business in the design of the state. They were drawing on centuries of hard experience in reaching this conclusion -- it isn't something they just popped up with. Let us pray the Muslim scholars have enough hutzpah to make a similar stand.

A