I lost sight of the context in which you were writing, that of Raoul's mention of Germany. That makes my remark that you were being "disingenuous" out of line, and I apologize.
It's true that Iraq is nothing like Japan, and that's one of the objections I and many other people had to the "Iraq'll roll over just like Japan" rosy-scenario about the occupation. Nice that you agree, now.
I think that dropping A-bombs on Japan was a factor in their cooperation, but I'm sure that a bigger factor was cultural, a tradition of obedience to and reverence of authority. When the Emperor said "surrender", they surrendered. It's not necessary to accuse me of advocating nuking Iraq, Tom. But I take it with a grain of salt, knowing how you are.
Things may be going better than some people fear, but you can hardly deny that they're not going nearly as well as the war-advocates who predicted our troops would be welcomed by throngs of Iraqis strewing flowers in the paths of our tanks.
It might be nice if some politicians and others stopped trying to figure out the best way to remove Bush's nuts with a vice grip pliers ...
No particular reply here, I just felt like reproducing that visegrip comment. What a picture that conjures! Ouch!