One Smart Study of History

I've linked to him here before, but only because he's well worth reading and learning from.
This guy is way more gooder than your average joe-six-pack blogger.

February 8, 2006
What History Says About the Iraq War
by Victor Davis Hanson
The American Enterprise Magazine

Why did the successful war in Iraq to replace Saddam Hussein with a democracy lose the majority support of the American public? Despite steady U.S. military progress against jihadists, and the bold endorsement of peaceful self-rule by 11 million Iraqis, public approval was slowly eroded by an accumulation of hits: The initial looting in Baghdad, over-the-top reporting on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the incessant suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices, the two sieges of Fallujah, more than 2,000 American fatalities, and a re-energized and media-savvy anti-war movement.

(big snip)

Our enemies — who cling to history far more tightly than most Americans — know this. And because Osama bin Laden, Dr. Zawahiri, Mr. Zarqawi, and other warrior fanatics understand our recent past, and their own distant one, better than we do, they will continue to fight in places, and with methods, that challenge our often unhistorical sense of the civilized self.

Go read all of it.
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson020806.html