re: #82 Last Mohican

And if I may rant a little more… I think that a cornerstone of GWB’s policy for the Middle East was a sort of domino theory of democracy. If you forcibly install a democratic government in Iraq, a country that was formerly ruled by a brutal dictator, then suddenly the people there will see the beauty of Western ways, love America, accept Israel, and stop wanting to blow everyone up. The other Arabs will be jealous of their neighbors living in a democracy, and they’ll demand democracy too. And then the whole region will just pacify itself and become friendly.

I think that was an utterly flawed idea, for many reasons. The most important is that, if the people of most Arab countries were allowed to elect a leader today, they’d elect the most hateful, violent jihadist available, and then voluntarily relinquish their right to vote ever again.