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Just how stupid are our leaders?

I think they are naive more than stupid. The idea that bringing democracy to vampires will destroy vampirism is so naive as to almost sound brilliant. The result is only that the strongest vampires will be elected to leadership positions...but they are still bloodsuckers.

While I definitely think Saddam had to be removed because of the fear of WMD (just as Iran will be neutralized because of the nuke issue)...the war is with the true believers of islam.

I suggest our leaders are just human and are learning as they go. If you find it depressing, imagine the mess we would be in if Kerry had won. That always cheers me up.

In Iraq, U.S. officials are confronting a different kind of problem. Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric once hunted by U.S. troops, last week sought to become a political kingmaker. Sadr's 32-seat faction sent the favored Shiite candidate for prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, to narrow defeat. Sadr was jubilant. "The U.S. brought democracy to the Middle East but God turned the tables and made the democratic process a weapon against the U.S.," he said on Syrian TV.

Yet even as Sadr was boasting, Iraqi politicians were beginning to rebel against his power, prodded behind the scenes by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. According to a knowledgeable official in Washington, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation, Khalilzad was sending the message that Iraq's next leaders don't want to displease America, with all of its military leverage and aid. By the end of last week it was no longer certain that Sadr's favored candidate, the mildly Islamist Ibrahim Jaafari, would become the new prime minister.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11435101/site/newsweek/

The idea that bringing democracy to vampires will destroy vampirism is so naive as to almost sound brilliant.

Good point. And I agree that they are learning as they go - as are we all. I will admit that I thought, initially, that some kind of functioning, non-dictatorial, non-lethal state could be built there, but that was before I knew as much about Islam as I do now. And I suspect that applies to our leaders, as well.

Plus, of course, Americans never like to think the worst of people, even when it appears to be abundantly justified.