For all the talk of empires....

One of the most annoying charges you hear from the people opposed to the war in Iraq is that it's just another example of American imperialism (Michael Moore went so far as to call the terrorists in Iraq the "minutemen" of today, fighting against the bad imperialists.)

For an example of what imperialism looks like, read this. In less than 10 years, China has taken Hong Kong from being a free state with popular elections for all public offices to a state in which the populace can not vote for their leader, first, followed quickly with the inability to vote for ANY lawmakers.

But handing over power to the interim government of Iraq and forging ahead to meet our stated goal of having nationwide free elections in that country by early next year (LESS THAN TWO YEARS AFTER THE FALL OF SADDAM!) is being called imperialism.