Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Falling Hopes for Democracy in Iraq

It wasn't so long ago that President Bush was talking about bringing democracy to Iraq. Indeed, he and his Neocon advisers were talking about democracy breaking out all over the Middle East, lead by the triumphant Iraqi example.

Not any more. As we all now know, the president and his advisers were hopelessly naive. This week, even Bush criticized the lack of political progress in Baghdad. What started as a dream of a democratic Iraq has been continually scaled back, even by the president and his supporters.

Here's the latest reality check, courtesy of CNN.com:

Nightmarish political realities in Baghdad are prompting American officials to curb their vision for democracy in Iraq. Instead, the officials now say they are willing to settle for a government that functions and can bring security.

1 comment:

Savage Baptist said...

...the officials now say they are willing to settle for a government that functions and can bring security.

Hmmm. While I'm certainly not inclined to take CNN's take on it for a final answer, I have to note that this is all I ever particularly hoped to see over there in the first place: a government that was at least not overtly hostile to the U.S., was hostile to terrorist organizations, and could at least defend its own borders.