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I respectfully disagree with your post. There are exceptions to ever rule and you have listed exceptions. IMHO, if all the dictators in the middle east were replaced tomorrow with free political systems, the world would be better off.

We would likely see a productive and prosperous Iran, similar to Turkey. I do not believe terrorism would have flourished and been protected as it was in Afganistan. It is possible Lebanon would once again be a popular tourist destination if released from the thumb of the brutal Assad regime. I could go on and on.

Sure there would be bumps along the way. Borders might even need to be changed as many were long ago determined by geographic lines as opposed to cultural. But I feel that all these people deserve to be free from tyrrany and I believe our great President and population feel the same. Of course he can't say it. Can you imagine the wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth in the media if he did.

These regimes will fall, either under the weight of their people wanting freedom, the weight of US military might or maybe as the USSR did. But they will have to fall.

IN closing, I have a friend born and raised in the "moderate" state of Jordan. He is a successful small business owner and loves the USA as much as anyone I have ever known. He will not hesitate to tell someone complaining about the USA to count their blessings and count them everyday.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF FREEDOM!

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF FREEDOM!

I will get back to you and others on some of the contentions raised against my little dissent (#22). But I just had to respond to your closing thought. It is precisely because I would hope to see more freedom among peoples, that I dissent from the idea of trying to foist Democracy on them. Democracy, as Madison observed so clearly in the Federalist Papers, is not a means to greater freedom. It is quite the opposite.

I will try to find the time to get back here, later today, to more fully develop my points. It is vital to understand the political/social dynamics involved in this argument. And it is sad how few Conservatives seem to do so. We have let the Left clothe a particular procedure for choosing Governments with a mystical power that it does not have. The key to freedom is a general understanding and acceptance by those who hold political power, however that power may be delegated or devolve, on the limitations on what is a legitimate exercise of political power. Americans once understood this concept as second nature. We no longer do so; and rather than lecturing the world on Government, we need a time for rediscovery of our own lost wisdom.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site