WOULD ANY Iraqi take it into his head to write about June 28, 2004 -- the date on which the United States transferred sovereignty to the new government in Baghdad -- what John Adams wrote about that steamy July day in 1776 when the Continental Congress adopted a resolution on American independence?

"I am apt to believe," Adams exulted in a letter from Philadelphia to his wife Abigail, "that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance. . . . It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forevermore."

Who would think of greeting Iraqi autonomy with such jubilation? After all, as the papers and the TV talking heads keep instructing us, Iraq is beset by problems. Sovereignty or no sovereignty, insurgents' bombs daily claim new victims, power blackouts last for hours, oil production has been crippled by sabotage, and terrorists cross the border with impunity. So why would June 28 be anything to celebrate?

Well, why was July 4, 1776, anything to celebrate? Declaration of Independence or no Declaration of Independence, the American colonies were a godawful mess. American troops were ill-trained and poorly equipped, they were fighting a military superpower, the economy was a shambles, inflation was about to worsen into hyperinflation, and thousands of colonials loyal to the enemy -- Tories -- were taking up arms and committing sabotage in order to undermine the American cause...