It is not possible to separate us into good and evil...all Germans and Japanese were not evil,all Americans or even soldiers were not "good"..We nevertheless had a duty to defeat the countries.
We did not do it because our country was perfect...We had segregation,Jim Crow, and other wrong laws...but we did it because it was necessary. We were better, and still we had to cooperate with the murderous Stalin.
This enemy is not concentrated in one country...they are here and everywhere and our useful idiots give support to the notion that they are not really that dangerous..They forget the ideology driven zeal,the devastation they inflict and the fact the Islamofascists truly do want us under sharia or dead.
Getting a democracy in the middle east is a hope and a vision to enable that 7th century part of the world to concentrate on bettering their lives instead of ruining ours. Our country,warts and all, is head and shoulders above Saddam's Iraqi government and the people of Iraq may have a chance at much better days.
We are fighting those who do not want freedom for the Iraqis..They want power. Some are tied to Al Queda.
PJB's article was a bit dramatic, but MEG33's hit on the nuts of the debate which will unfold over the next several months.
That is: SHOULD the US 'establish democracy' in the Middle East, and if it should, HOW should this be done?
"Establishing democracy" does not require the Judaeo-Christian tradition, although it's helpful. The Greeks had democracy long before Christ, and without the help of Moses.
But the US military machine is not really the vehicle for instructions on how to use voting machines, nor for instructions on zoning ordinances, plumbing controls, and highway laws.
The military should be used for what it IS good for, in combination with other assets: eliminating AlQuaeda.
Great post - a hale & hearty Amen!