savages

Andrew Sullivan makes a good point:

A classic from Dean Barnett at the Hewitt blog:

There is a deep undercurrent of savagery in the Iraqi culture that will not just inhibit the growth of a peaceful democracy there, but probably prohibit it. The only answer, as it always has been, is to stamp out that savagery ferociously and totally.

That is, simply put, retarded. Sullivan's response:

I'm struck by how many on the hard right believe that more violence, and more brutal violence, is what is needed in Iraq. According to their logic, we defeat savagery with savagery and torture with torture. At home, we defend the rule of law by suspending the rule of law and we protect freedom by suspending freedom. And at the end of this cycle of revenge and violence?