Letters to the Editor
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That statement is not prophetic.
First, before anybody smears me for having a bias that would lead me to write this, I am opposed to the Iraq war and think it is a disaster.
Second though, the idea that replacing "Germany" with "Iraq" in that last quote proves how prophetic that statement is is ridiculous. To say that Iraq won't be "a peaceful and intellectually fruitful nation in anything but the most remote future" is purely an assertion made by the author of the article. The validity of the author's claim is further cast into doubt because the quotation does not even accurately describe the country it was meant to describe. The claim made in the Vonnegut quote had the opportunity to be tested only once so far, and it was in context of post-WWII Germany. Fortunately for the world and unfortunately for Vonnegut's reputation as a prophet, he was wrong. Germany took a bit of time to recover but basically reentered the world community fairly quickly as a peaceful and intellectually fruitful nation.