WaPo: U.S. Civil War was a mistake!

Okay, they didn't say that explicitly, but... Power Line comments on an article by William Raspberry in the notorious Washington Post. The Post bemoans the awful state of affairs in Iraq:

[Some people argue] that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant whose defeat and humiliation should evoke no sympathy from us. But he did have a functioning country. There was a government in place. People went to work and to the market and to school in relative safety. Can anyone really believe that the U.S.-spawned anarchy has left the Iraqi people better off?

PowerLine notes that the same argument could have been made about the U.S. following our Civil War, as a few (understandably) bitter former rebels made life miserable for some by lynching and burning in midnight raids.

As I recall, credulous Leftist reporters also made the same case to defend Facism just before WW2. The story included a line that eventually became a synonym for rationalization by those who would appease dictators: "Maybe it's not perfect, but at least the trains run on time."