Warblog: Armchair Generals of the War on Terror

The "warbloggers" who emerged after the September 11 attacks believed that the War on Terror and the invasion of Iraq could trigger a humanistic and democratic reformation of the Islamic world. They were wrong, but not alone. Their optimism reflected an old and powerful Western fantasy: That liberal democracy is natural, inevitable, and appealing to all people everywhere.

Seen through the eyes of one of the original warbloggers, this is the story of the amateurs who wanted to prove that they...