I hadn’t read James Lileks for some time before tonight, as I had stopped reading a lot of the warblogs. I had read in the earlier stages of the march to war—first while I was making up my mind about the question, and then later because I was involved in the debate over the war. But when it became clear that we’d past the point of no return, most of them, with their alternation of chest pounding, triumphalism, and fortune-cookie “moral clarity” only deepened that awful feeling in my stomach that comes from seeing something potentially wretched done on your behalf, and not being able to do anything about it. (You may note, if you stop by here from time to time, that I’ve not written much about the war—that’s why.) That sense has broken a bit over the last day or two. Of course, we’re seeing a one-sided, carefully selected version of events in Baghdad. Of course, the initial jubilation we’re seeing is no guarantee that relief at the removal of a homegrown tyrant won’t fade to resentment of a foreign occupier. Of course, there could be a reversal in the offing. Still and all, this first stretch down the long road could have gone far worse than it did. With a good deal of luck, and more wisdom from the administration than I expect deep down, it now looks as though there’s at least a chance this could end up leaving the region—and our image there—better off than we found it. If we’re gone in six months, if whatever government is left in place of the regime we’ve ejected isn’t a puppet of the U.S./U.K., well, maybe that will even, gradually, begin to undo the perception of America as an imperial power, the Great Satan, the Enemy. I’m not breaking out the champagne yet, but there now seems to be far less cause for despair. Credit where credit is due.

Which brings me back to Lileks. With my nerves no longer quite so raw, surfed over to look at what he’s been writing recently. I had forgotten what an impossibly gifted writer this guy is. Why he hasn’t been snatched up by one of the upper-middlebrow monthlies is beyond me. I’ll have to remind myself, from now on, to “read Lileks!” as the warbloggers are wont to say.