Please shutup about the US bringing democracy to other countries
 

The goal of the US has never ever ever been to promote democracy anywhere. Usually, our foreign policy is the exact opposite. Eisenhower overthrew the democratic government in guatemala in the fifties. We supported the shah in Iran. We supported Hussein. There are dozens of cases where the US actively supported anti-democratic governments. There are also lots of cases where the US actively opposed democratic governments, like the sandanistas.

This comment is mainly directed towards well-intentioned, but badly ignorant people, like Iron81, who constantly say things like "well, it'd be nice if we could bring democracy to Iraq, but we can't."

Re: Please shutup about the US bringing democracy to other countries
 

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"well, it'd be nice if we could bring democracy to Iraq, but we can't."

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What part of this isn't true?

Re: Please shutup about the US bringing democracy to other countries
 

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"well, it'd be nice if we could bring democracy to Iraq, but we can't."

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What part of this isn't true?

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I think he means the "we could bring" part. Although the statement is technically true, it seems to infer that it we could bring democracy if there wasn't something wrong with the people of Iraq, rather than inferring that we could never bring democracy to them because that's not how democracy works.

Re: Please shutup about the US bringing democracy to other countries
 

Iron,

It'd be nice if Iraq was democratic. As to whether or not Democracy can be imposed there, I dunno. What's definitely true though is that the US doesn't want Iraq to be a democracy.

If a vote was held in Iraq with the question "Do you want all US troops out?"
and a majority said yes, do you think the US would leave?

No chance.

Re: Please shutup about the US bringing democracy to other countries
 

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the US doesn't want Iraq to be a democracy.


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Who, exactly, do you mean by "the US". Clearly, the entire nation doesn't hold this view.

Re: Please shutup about the US bringing democracy to other countries
 

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"well, it'd be nice if we could bring democracy to Iraq, but we can't."

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What part of this isn't true?

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I think he means the "we could bring" part. Although the statement is technically true, it seems to infer that it we could bring democracy if there wasn't something wrong with the people of Iraq, rather than inferring that we could never bring democracy to them because that's not how democracy works.

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Just a sidenote: there doesn't have to be anything wrong with a Middle Eastern people if they aren't culturally amenable to democracy, just as there doesn't have to be anything wrong with the Canadian people if they aren't culturally amenable to Shari'a law. So Iron's statement might indeed suggest that there is some inherent reason the Iraqis won't genuinely adopt democracy, but that is not a disparagement or a suggestion that there is something "wrong" with the Iraqi people, because democratic ideals are simply not seen as a virtue in many parts of the world.

As far as the difficulties of bringing democracy to a country from the outside: it does appear that the Neo-Cons miscalculated slightly [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Please shutup about the US bringing democracy to other countries
 

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As far as the difficulties of bringing democracy to a country from the outside: it does appear that the Neo-Cons miscalculated slightly

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American Neo-cons, liberals, moderates, etc. DO NOT want Iraq to be a democracy. There's no miscalculation on their part.

Re: Please shutup about the US bringing democracy to other countries
 

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the US doesn't want Iraq to be a democracy.


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Who, exactly, do you mean by "society". Clearly, the entire population doesn't hold view x, y, z.

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Careful now...that's the path you're going down and it's not a happy one for the statist... [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Please shutup about the US bringing democracy to other countries
 

Congrats, Snowball, you uncovered the big lie.

You only mention examples of the US overthrowing governments in third world nations. Take a look at post WW2 Italy, Greece and Korea for examples of the US crushing democracy because local workers were winning elections.

Re: Please shutup about the US bringing democracy to other countries
 

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"well, it'd be nice if we could bring democracy to Iraq, but we can't."

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What part of this isn't true?

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Iraq needs democracy like a fish needs a bicycle.