Democracy doesn't work in Iraq ?

Question

Countries with different cultures cannot be easily understood.
Religion and politics together, for example.

Answer 1

Really? I disagree. There are many Iraqis who have embraced Democracy as evidenced by all the proud purple fingers following their election. It is true that there is sectarian violence, but Iraq is like an infant in this area which must nurtured and suckled. Most of these people have never knowN anything but oppression in their lives. The type of Democracy in Iraq will not necessarily reflect western Democracy in the end, but it is much too early in the process to call it a failure. It amazes me that so many people who enjoy all the benefits of freedom are so willing to abandon others who are deserving of the same.

Answer 2

Here are some clues for the clueless:

In January 2005 the Iraq people held a nationwide election to vote for the people who would write their new constitution. despite death threats - about 70% of the eligible voters voted.

In October 2005 the Iraqi people held a national referendum on the new democratic constitution - again 70% of the eligible voters voted and overwhelmingly approved a democratic government.

In December 2005 nationwide elections were held in Iraq and a parliament was elected by the Iraqi people.

So we have a democracy in Iraq. We did not force this democracy on them - all we did was facilitate the elections that allowed them to choose what form of government they wanted.

All of the violence is from the minority who want to overthrown the democracy that was chosen by the Iraqi people in favor of a dictatorship with themselves in charge.

Answer 3

I agree, the cultural climate is wrong for Democracy at the moment, the best we can hope for is a semi-democracy like the ex Soviet countries and latin countries, where the cultural climate can gradually change until a true republic can be introduced. Trying to push for a full Democratisation of Iraq now is a lost cause, people forget that it took the Us and Uk hundreds of years to develop into the Democracies they are now. To expect it to happen in Iraq (and many other counties too, this a wide argument) in a few years is just unrealistic

Answer 4

i think you are probably right about that. i think it was pretty arrogant of us to go into iraq thinking we could transform the country into a democracy. there are so many things about the culture in iraq that we just don't understand.

did you hear about the white house memo that was leaked? basically the administration listed its doubts about the maliki government. see, the al-maliki government has pretty close ties to the shi'ite insurgency in iraq. in fact, it's impossible for the maliki government to sustain itself without the assistance of al-sadr, who is leader of a shi'ite militia. to defract al-sadr, we would have to somehow have to come between al-maliki and al-sadr. and this al-maliki guy was democratically elected. i think it's interesting that we didn't even take any of this into account before we went in.

Answer 5

it has never worked, the middle east has been made up of fighting tribes since before Christ. They have never got along, they teach hate to their children.