a recipe for success

A friend of mine just sent me this, responding to yet another friend. I think he's on to something...

OK, this gave me a laugh. A bitter, hollow, sneering one, but a laugh nonetheless.

Gates Urges Iraq to Hasten Push to Defuse Sectarianism

Reminds me of one of the best-ever lines from the Mary Tyler Moore Show: "Ted, you know the way you always are? Don't be that way."

You know what Iraq needs? A strong secularist leader, one capable of suppressing the ethnic and regional divisions. One who wouldn't tolerate Islamism for an instant. Might have be brutal to make it work, and he could be a threat to his neighbors. But we could easily bottle him up with, oh, say, a couple of regularly patrolled no-fly zones and some weapons inspectors.