Baghdad: 'Think of L.A.'

That's kind of a weird comparison. I mean it doesn't really piss me off. He's just making an analogy. But why would he use Los Angeles as apposed to Wash D.C.? Wouldn't that make more sense given where the information is coming from. Maybe he just figures he'll use a place where he won't piss people off if he compares it to Baghdad... Guess he was wrong.

I'm pretty sure he used LA because LA is the most readily securable city in the US, from a military perspective, with the possible exceptions of Phoenix and Tucson. Look at the street pattern of any sprawling American suburb and you can readily see the ease with which the military could control and choke off any potential grassroots revolt. Never in the US will there be Parisian-style furniture blockades of major arteries; every square mile of the San Fernando valley has exactly 4 entrances and exits, which can all be sealed off from the major thoroughfares. The (self-afflicted) geography of the American landscape prohibits the possibility of armed revolution even more strongly than does the illiteracy and contented apathy of its population. In other words, LA is a great example of segregated communities that work the way they're supposed to, again from a military perspective, and therefore a perfect paradigm for what daydreamers like the unnamed official in question conceive for Baghdad. The difference is that the Iraqi population -- though illiterate -- is in this case anything but apathetic about the current situation, and urban war planners would do well to remember that shit finds a way to float.