And I believe that Iraq, in some ways, faces the same difficulty, and that is a new democracy is emerging and there are people who are willing to use terrorist techniques to stop it. That's what the murder is all about. People fear democracy if your vision is based upon kind of a totalitarian view of the world. And that's the ultimate challenge facing Iraq and Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories, and that is, will the free world, and the neighborhood, work in concert to help develop sustainable democracy?
And Iraq took a long step along that -- a big step on that path when they developed a constitution that was ratified by the Iraqi people. And it's a modern constitution, and it's a landmark moment in the history of freedom advancing in the Middle East.
I believe that deep in everybody's soul, Mr. Prime Minister, is a desire to be free. And when 12 million Iraqis went to the polls and said, I want to be free, it was an amazing moment. I know it seems like a long, long time ago that that happened. But it was a powerful statement about what is possible in terms of achieving peace.
And Greg Djerejian responds:
And yet, it is democratic elections that put Hamas in power, and democratic elections that put Hezbollah into a leading political role in Lebanon, and democratic elections that have failed to stave off barbaric sectarian warfare in Iraq. When will we put these pitiable nostrums about some illusory "march to freedom" aside, and confront the region as it is, not as we dream it to be?
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In response to Greg Djerejian: While, yes, it is democratic elections that put Hamas in power and Hezbollah in its role in Lebanon, at least now the people in those countries are accountable for their governments. Does Djerejian really think that the people in those countries do not deserve to self-govern, even if poorly.
The true test of a "sustainable" democracy, as Bush puts it, is in the transfer of power from one party to a competitor, should the next election turn out the other way. That's when we know for sure that a country is free.
It also cracks me up to hear those who were against the Iraq war, especially those who said that we had no right to effect regime change in another country, now complain that the elected officials in Iraq are not what we/they want. First they complain about American imperialism, then they complain that America is not dictating their government enough. Sheesh.>
It's not a free election when Hamas and Hezbollah prevents a free media and violently intimidates its opponents. Critics of the Bush administration would do well to acknowledge that there is nothing at all "free" about the political process in Lebanon and Palestine.>
It's not a free election when sectarian militias prevent a free media and slaughter their opponents.
It is blindingly obvious that Iraq will be another example of the "one man, one vote, one time" model of democracy. And the President can only gush platitudes while Baghdad disintegrates.>
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