GERMAN LESSONS

When America defeats its enemies, George W Bush
said in his speech on Iraq this week, it leaves
not occupying armies but democracy and liberty.
"There was a time," he went on, "when many said
that the cultures of Japan and Germany were incapable
of sustaining democratic values. Well, they were wrong."
In fact, it is Mr Bush who is wrong. Japanese men got
the vote in 1925, not in 1945, as the president implied.
And German men won the vote as far back as 1849, albeit
subject to a property qualification, at a time when Mr Bush's
country practised legalised slavery. Bearing in mind that
America only became a full democracy in 1965, and Germany
in 1946, there is a case for saying that Germans have at least
as strong a democratic tradition as Americans. What's more,
there is no dispute about who actually won the last German
election, which is more than can be said about the means
by which Mr Bush came to office. A little historical humility
would do the president no harm.