Reply #1: I have two Iraqi colleagues at work [View All]

[ewoden]

At the outset one said continually, Iraq is like Yugoslavia, disparate peoples united under the iron fist of a dictator. He maintained that once the dictator is deposed the three main factions in Iraq would be embroiled in a civil war.

The other believed that the US would bring democracy to the people, and he points to the elections of proof of that democracy. I remind him that democracy is yet not achieved when there is a vote, but only once the losers of an election realize that it is more appropriate to meet the results in peace and not with the gun. Even he admits that in that context, Iraq apparently has a long way to go.

I personally find it difficult to identify any democratic societies that were not first tested in civil war.