The reports out of  Burma are devastatingly bleak. Mass killings and incarcerations of monks by the military dictatorship appear to have brought this short season of pro-democracy protest  to a bloody halt. Looking back at the pictures--unarmed monks and other Burmese filling city streets by the thousands to march for democracy--I am struck anew by how unprotected these people were against the guns and ruthlessness of the regime, and still they marched. The bravery and evident desparation on display are equally poignant.
     Is there is any comparison to Iraq? Not really, and yet I can't help making one. We send the best army in the world bring democracy a la mode, and who comes out in droves to protest or out the "insurgents," the "militias," "Al Qaeda in Iraq," "Al Quds" and other violent spoilers? It's probably not appropriate to demand bravery, risk and allegiance in others, but it's awfully hard not to notice its absence. Sure, we've all the seen the "Sunni Awakening," but there's nothing there as inspiring or sincere (or, I am afraid, long-term meaningful) as anything we've seen in Burma this past month.