Quote:
Originally posted by sgtclub
Perhaps, but in the context of what we were discussin, I think any distinction is without a practical difference.
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In the context of what we were discussing, both you and bilmore are missing the point. My point was that the way we have presided over Iraq since we took over, and the mess we have made of it, discredits and undermines our promotion of democracy. The question is not whether our motives are pure, but how our efforts are seen and appreciated by others in the Middle East. Abu Ghraib, to take just one example, was a disaster for our public diplomacy efforts. The fact that the insurgency has only been gathering strength is also very, very unhelpful. My point was that others look at Iraq and, quite reasonably, would not want to live there. Given a choice between living under such conditions with a right to vote, and living in an orderly, non-democratic country, many people would choose the latter. (Look at Singapore. But I digress.) Moreover, the fucked-up state of the country threatens the entire project. For example, Kurds overwhelmingly want independence for Kurdistan rather than to remain a part of Iraq. If the centre cannot hold, Kurdish secession is increasingly possibly. But this would certainly convince many nationalists elsewhere that the price of democracy is too high. (Evidently, the price of recognizing Kurdish aspirations is too high for us even now, notwithstanding our ostensible commitment to democracy.) Or, if people associated the introduction of democracy with the inability of the central government to stop the insurgency, they may turn to a strongman. They might even elect someone who then eliminates democracy. It's happened before.
eta:
IMHO, notwithstanding the vote on Sunday, we're losing Iraq. In the future, the historians will ask whether the project ever could have worked out, or whether it was doomed from the start. (And the bilmores of the world will blame the MSM for failing to give enough support.) I tend to think the latter, but I'm not sure.
