Government report: Democracy Domino theory "not credible"

[9215]

It looks like they never expected democracy to work in Iraq. So what was the purpose of "liberating" them? :eyes:


http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/saddam/2003/0314democracy.htm
March 14, 2003
Democracy Domino Theory 'Not Credible'
A State Department report disputes Bush's claim that ousting Hussein will spur reforms in the Mideast, intelligence officials say.
By Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- A classified State Department report expresses doubt that installing a new regime in Iraq will foster the spread of democracy in the Middle East, a claim President Bush has made in trying to build support for a war, according to intelligence officials familiar with the document.
The report exposes significant divisions within the Bush administration over the so-called democratic domino theory, one of the arguments that underpins the case for invading Iraq.

The report, which has been distributed to a small group of top government officials but not publicly disclosed, says that daunting economic and social problems are likely to undermine basic stability in the region for years, let alone prospects for democratic reform.

Even if some version of democracy took root - an event the report casts as unlikely - anti-American sentiment is so pervasive that elections in the short term could lead to the rise of Islamic-controlled governments hostile to the United States. "Liberal democracy would be difficult to achieve," says one passage of the report, according to an intelligence official who agreed to read portions of it to The Times.
"Electoral democracy, were it to emerge, could well be subject to exploitation by anti-American elements."
..................more

[9215]

1. Does anybody know anything else about

this?

I'd like to get any other official or non-official takes on this.

[truthspeaker]

2. Bush ignored it because it came from the State Department

Bush stopped listening to State over a year ago. State also warned about Iraqi resistance, sabotage, and unemploymwent and had a plan for occupying Iraq that they spend months developing, and Bush ignored it let the Pentagon run the show. You can see how well that worked out.

[Bandit]

3. Just like Democracy has blossomed in Kuwait

Remember when we went into Kuwait to save them from a horrible villain and they promised they would move towards Democracy right away. Well?

[9215]

4. Thanks for reminding me. The Al Sabah's (Kuwaitie elites) own slaves.

Now Kuwait is a country with no meaningful internal discord and democracy couldn't be, or was never intended to be, established. This fact makes it all the more unlikely that the establishment of democracy in Iraq was ever a serious consideration by the Bushistas.