The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Iraq, 2007? Or India, 1946?
Fellow Texan Nancy Coppock has found an interesting historical precedent for the current situation in present-day Iraq: Britain's experience with granting self-government to India after World War II.
In both cases there were strong religious factions maneuvering for power--including Muslims. And in India, the British unwisely tried to impose false deadlines on transferring power--a mistake which directly resulted in somewhere between 200,000 and 400,000 deaths.
There are other parallels as well, all pointing to the same conclusion: those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it...
In both cases there were strong religious factions maneuvering for power--including Muslims. And in India, the British unwisely tried to impose false deadlines on transferring power--a mistake which directly resulted in somewhere between 200,000 and 400,000 deaths.
There are other parallels as well, all pointing to the same conclusion: those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it...
