Historical Parallels

You know the drill. From 1916: ...We rushed into the business with our usual disregard for a comprehensive political scheme. We treated Mesop[otamia] as if it were an isolated unit, instead of which it is part of Arabia.... When people talk of our muddling through it throws me into a passion. Muddle through! why yes, so we do—wading through blood and tears that need never have been shed. ...No one knows exactly what they do want, least of all themselves, except that they don't want us.