Originally posted by MapOfTaziFoSho:

As far as your comment about creating a democracy a great reason to invade....that is idiotic.

You cannot force democracy onto people. They have been raised to believe A. and to change their beliefs to B. isn't going to be easy or even possible!! Look at what has happened since the Brits partitioned India. Pakistan has worked out really well...




Idiotic? History will tell.
Seemed to work out in Germany..

In Dec, over 70% of Iraqi's seemed interested in democracy enough to risk their lives to vote..and nobody forced them. They ratified a constitution. We gave them an opportunity, nobody made them do anything. That you suggest that because they are raised a certain way and cannot change suggests a subtle racism. Women and African Americans in this country were once not allowed to vote.

Iraq may or may not evolve into a sectarian, free democracy. Same for Afganistan. Even Palestine...look at Hamas(ah the outcry when THEY won)..now forced to negotiate as elected leaders, and the retoric has decreased significantly. But it will take time...no clear outcome this year or next. We will know in a few decades how it all turns out. America took decades to work things out.

One thing is clear....jihaddits are committed to stopping these fledgling democracies. They know, even if you do not that success will send shock waves through the middle east at least as large as the 9/11 shock wave here.

Other options..
We have tried the "look the other way approach" in the 1990s. Jihaddists hit the WTC in 93 and we looked he other way. They hit the Saudi Marine barricks, the African Embassies, The USS Cole. We looked the other way, and Al-Queda grew in power and boldness,

We have also tried "cut and run" in Vietnam, Lebanon, and Somolia..didn't work out..

We tried negotiation without varification with N. Korea under Clinton and later learned they became a nuclear power while we gave them what we wanted.

So, if democratization of select terrorist and tyranical Islamic countries is not the cure for the jihaddist movement..what is?

aka DanN 99SVT with some stuff