“Trust me, Jenny. Democracies love you.”
If Saddam Hussein is removed, the U.S. has pledged to encourage an Iraqi democracy that will be a model for democratic government in the Middle East. The hope is that the Arab Street is secretly hoping for democracy, and that new democracies in the Middle East would be naturally more sympathetic to the United States.
The State Department popped that balloon with a report to top-level government officials which casts serious doubt on the ability of an Iraqi democracy to encourage democracy elsewhere. “Iraq, the Middle East and Change: No Dominoes” asserts that democracies are unlikely to develop before more pressing social and economic issues are resolved. Even if new democracies develop, the report warns that anti-American sentiment is likely to create more Islamic governments hostile to the United States.
This flies in the face of the “Democracy Domino” camp, led by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz. The idea that an Iraqi democracy will encourage the development of democracy elsewhere in the Middle East is central to the Bush Administration’s case for regime change. Thanks to the L.A. Times, we know that even Bush’s own State Department doesn’t believe him.
a technology job is no excuse 