Suddenly, comparisons between Iraq and British India seem to be the fashion.
Niall Ferguson: "Cowboys & Indians."
Chris Hanson, "The Scoop Heard Round the World."
Nicholas Fearn reviews "The Butcher of Amritsar"
Michael Hirsh, "A Troubled Hunt"
Wretchard excepted -- he has made occasional British India comparisons, but only as part of a wider commitment to exploring many historic models from military science -- this new wave seems in need of an explanation. My guess: the Vietnam analogy was finally fully explored in the 2004 elections, and decisively rejected by the voters. Journalists, who are broadly anti-war, now need a new model of to draw upon. It's taken this long to discover the next good model, and to educate themselves about it enough to write of it.
UPDATE: I've decided to expunge the last four paragraphs of the original post, on the grounds that it was nasty and unfair. :) Must be my allergies are getting to me. My apologies.
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