by James Glaser
April 21, 2003

Just how many Muslim democracies has the world seen in the Middle East? Twelve years ago our President, George Bush, father of our current President liberated Kuwait and the women of that country are still waiting for their right to vote. Democracy does not come easy in that part of the world.

No Matter how much George the Younger wishes for this brand of government in Iraq, just maybe Iraq will be going in the opposite direction. America could have given up well over a hundred of its finest young people and spent over a hundred billion dollars in order to have a Muslin Cleric take over Saddam's role as ruler of Iraq.

In America, the first thing we think of in any election, is if we should vote for the Republican or the Democrat. We do have other third party choices, but at this time they are still protest votes.

In Iraq, there is no history of elections or political parties, other than Saddam Hussein's Baathist Party. Most Iraqi people think of their church leaders when they are thinking of someone whose directions they would follow.

In America, George Bush will sometimes quote his religious beliefs when he is talking about the direction he thinks America should take.

In Iraq, religious briefs are the direction most people believe their lives and government should follow.

George Bush and his advisors believe that with the proper example, people in Iraq will decide that democracy is the way to go and they will drop over a thousand years of following their religious faith in all things. Those in Washington have bet American lives and money in the belief that the Iraqi people will follow men picked by Washington to lead them and that those people will work with America for a better future.

If President Bush is wrong, we might have toppled the cruel dictatorship of Saddam, so that the leaders of Islam will be able to take over Iraq as they have been trying to do for decades. When America brings democracy to Iraq, the future of that nation will be in the hands of the Iraqi people.

Will the Iraqi people vote for the minions of the "Great Satan" or the religious leaders who have suffered with them for the last 30 years? America has been the Great Satan since most Iraqis were children.

If we do give Iraq an honest vote, it will be a interesting election and there is every chance that we will lose this one. The democracy we bring to Iraq, could vote America right out of Iraq.