Originally Posted by John F. Kerry

a few months ago i posted an article about how iraq is now ranked the 3rd best democracy in the middle east by gulf news, a dubai based newspaper.


now iraq is still a shithole, bombings ,e tc.

but still, the fact that they are free, can vote, and have a reasonble expectation that the US and its might wont let them fall down the drain and will stand up to defend them to some extent for years to come.... those facts make iraq the 3rd best democracy IN THE REGION.


so as much as people like me dont want to start up the war drums and get the chicken hawks loaded again, it doesnt take a pro war person to see that in the mid run, if not long run, iraq is gonna be way better off and way better for the region than it ever could have been under saddam. why? for 2 reasons- 1 because the people wanted freedom (as the iranians do now, and as evidenced by iraqs reconcilliation to a large extent and elections of multi party parliaments in iraq) , and 2. because the US stood up to defeat an evil regime that was dangling by a thread, and that its own people wanted out of.


now thats the side i dont want to talk about because we all remember how shit looked in 2005-6, but im just saying, its clear that iraq in the long run wont just be good for america or become an american colony- its going to be (thanks to us , the brits and the rest of the coalition) a free arab islamic democracy, and the most populous one on earth, and thats simply a fact. and a full accounting of whether the iraqi people would have been better off if we had just done what we have done so far with iran, must certainly take into account the hundreds of thousands of civilians dead from the war, but also the fact that the rest of them will go on and live in a world that is better than they ever could have dreamed would be possible for them....