Was Promoting Democracy a Mistake? Liberalism, the Arab Spring, and the mugging of neoconservatives

Commentary ^ | November 2012 | John Agresto

[neverdem]

AS SECTARIAN VIOLENCE in the Middle East increases, as Iraq falls further into the orbit of Iran,as Afghanistan seems poised to hand over its corrupt democracy to terrorists and Taliban murderers, and as American interests and lives are sacrificed to the depredations of the so called Arab Spring, it might be worthwhile to take stock of what these unfolding debacles mean for neoconservatives and our attachment to democracy’s expansion.

We should begin with Iraq, where our most recent foray into democratic nation-building began.

I was, from the start of the campaign to liberate Iraq from Saddam Hussein, both a supporter of our efforts there and an actor on the ground. I first went to Iraq in the summer of 2003 as a civilian working for the Pentagon and was in Iraq for the better part of the last decade, having finally left at the end of 2010. I was certain, from the first day of Shock and Awe, that the war was good and that our planting the seeds of democratic rule in that part of the world was very good. Because I tended to believe that all people yearn for freedom and deserve to govern themselves,I thought that what we were attempting was good for Iraq and all Iraqis. Moreover, because I looked forward to seeing a democratic nation rise out of the ruins of a Ba’athist tyranny, I thought we were surely raising up a future international friend, perhaps even an ally for America...

[mountainlion]

Could be that the boama doublespeak really supported radical Islam.

[Noumenon]

Anyone with an accurate knowledge of the history of Islam would have known what a crock that was. To prattle about Arab “democracy” is ignorant, evil or insane. Or all three.

[Sacajaweau]

Here's the problem....Those are ALL Muslim countries. That's not going to change.

It's a political system based on total submission to the state and Muslim laws....That means as it always has....Kill all the Christians and Jews. Democracy doesn't fit into their mission. They are obsessed and Islam is not a religion...it's a sick, murtderous cult funded by a huge ignorant population.

[narses]

+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

[narses]

+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

[JediJones]

Well, democracy doesn’t really work if there isn’t a bill of rights to protect a simple majority from being tyrannical to the rest of the country. But even our constitution can be amended by a big enough majority who can take away those rights if they choose to.

What’s good about Arabs having free elections is that they are responsible for their choices and get to see the results of them. So it’s possible some will see when their philosophy doesn’t work and change it.

On the other hand, if they vote for extremism and end up being foreign aggressors, we can fight back against them without any reservations. We don’t have to feel bad about blowing away Iraqi conscripts in Kuwait because they were pushed into battle by a dictator. We’ll know that when we’re dealing with their government, it is in line with what their people voted for and we can feel free to hold the whole country accountable.

[Gene Eric]

Few anticipated the destructive arrival of BHO.

[Secret Agent Man]

Promoting Republics is better than promoting democracies.

If they stick with it, Republics are better. As the cultures continue their downward slide, democracies are just mob rule. Essentially what we have here as we’ve abandoned the Republic and only just played lip service to it for so long, with the Takers vs the Makers.

[BenLurkin]

A sophisticated and civil system of self-governance requires a sophisticated and civil society.

Such societies are a rairty in all of human history.

[SandRat]

See the end of the movie “Lawrence of Arabia” and you would have known hoe this was going to end up.

[rollo tomasi]

Few anticipated the destructive arrival of BHO George Bush (Or do you think Iraq's "democracy" is different since he took part in flip the secularist for the rabid Mullahs bs before Obama).

[a fool in paradise]

What the Hell is democratic about Islamic theocracy?

[pallis]

Anyone who has to ask if Democracy is a mistake for Islam (All Islam is radical) will never get the truth of it, no matter how simple it is.

But here it is. If a mob lacks the culture to bring virtue to Democracy, Democracy is horrid. Any mob with Sharia as the foundation of culture is the most horrid of all.

People get out of Democracy what they put into it.

[omega4179]

The Neocons set this up with Iraq invasion. USA should have left the old semi-secular Baathist countries alone

[Mike Darancette]

Democracy works only for civilized and moral societies.

[PieterCasparzen]

Promotion of "democracy" by the U.S. has been going on since WWII, the programs have just expanded over the years.

The ping list below is just a start on finding out where the money goes.

The ping list Link takes you the a keyword search of all MEPI threads on FR. MEPI was started at the State Department in 2002, but USAID has been operating since 1961. Much of this "soft power" money is now going to Soros network and other globalist organizations. If you'd like to apply for an MEPI grant, click here.

PingU.S. Department of State, Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Ping List



Phase II, the Middle East: From Here to Eternal Tyranny

Brought to you by:



Producer: State Department, MEPI
Director: The New Left
Accounts Payable: USAID
Diabolical Planning: Open Society Foundations
Tactical Organization: Empty-headed Activist Pawns
Disposable Vassals: Power Hungry Sheiks and Mullahs
Dirty Work: Jihadi Pawns
Odd Jobs, Cleanup: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
Cast of Characters: The Obama Administration
Innocent Victims: Themselves
Public Relations: Legacy News Media
Funding provided by: Your local U.S. Citizen

FReepmail me if you want to be on or off the State Department MEPI ping list.

Notice: A lot of humans were harmed so far in the making of this production, but relatively not that many considering that it's just getting started.

[RedStateRocker]

They’re OK with merely enslaving the Christians and the Jews. Anyone else such as Agnostics, atheists, Wiccans and the like are goners, though.

[The_Reader_David]

Democracy works only for civilized and moral societies.

Too sanguine a view of democracy. A republic (or even a constitutional monarchy) with a mixed constitution containing both democratic and anti-democratic (and republican in the latter case) elements will work fairly well in civilized and moral societies. Democracy, not so well.

[Flintlock]

Democracy works only amongst the civilized.