Hopefully, today's Washington Post Op-Ed by Donald Rumsfeld marks the beginning of the Bush Administration's speaking out and up for themselves in explaining what's going on in Iraq and the War on Terror generally.

Beyond 'Nation-Building' (washingtonpost.com)

Oxblog's Josh Chafetz thinks the piece is "important and good" while David Adesnik is not so positively disposed - to say the least. I agree with Josh and think David is way off base. Rumsfeld's line of explanation here, that we are offering an opportunity and helping to facilitate Iraqi asperations seems to me completely consistent with the, often poorly communicated, American strategy. It's just a fact, we can't do for them what they won't do for themselves. The entire expedition was based on a gambit that presupposed that Iraqi society had the pre-existing tools for something at least approaching modernized, democratic self-government. Rumsfeld is just stating the facts. Facts which should be serving as nothing more than a reminder to the well-informed.

Those of us who support the liberation and reconstruction of Iraq should be supportive and welcoming of pieces like Rumsfeld's and leave the trashing to others.