[sheltonmac]

"It is unfortunate that you choose to ignore world history in assessing the situation in Iraq."

Based on Post #8, I would say billbears has a pretty good understanding of the situation in Iraq.

[Congressman Billybob]

Aristotle first wrote about a "constitutional republic" some years prior to 322 B.C. It was not until 1789 A.D. that the first durable constitutional republic was established under a written constitution. Under Billbears' approach, all the failures over all the millenia since Aristotle died should have persuaded the human race to give up on the idea.

Iraq should have a constitutional republic, for the sake of its own people and for the sake of the world. History teaches that is possible. History also teaches what to avoid in the attempt to achieve that.

If the Iraqi Framers are wise, and read their history, I think they will borrow about 50% from our Constitution, and the other 50% from the few other successful constitutional republics in the world today. In short, I expect them to borrow far less from us than we borrowed from the British. But their existing culture and traditions are more divergent from us than we were from the British.

My article specifically states that the Iraqis need to learn from failures as well as successes, including the initial failure of the Articles in the US. Did you miss that reference?

John / Billybob