“I think of Iraq as a kind of Pandora's box, the lid of which the US knocked open. The hope was that politicians could artfully manage the furies that were bound to emerge. That proved unfounded. The furies are now out there doing their terrible work. Eventually they will be tamed. The whole of history is evidence of that. But how long is "eventually?"”

— Kanan Makiya

"Kanan Makiya speaks about Iraq 5 years later...", Washington Post (March 20, 2008)

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Kanan Makiya 35

American orientalist 1949

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Context: I won't open boxes
That I am told not to.
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