Finally, the International Media is paying attention to Iraq.
I am not at all dismayed by the political upheaval erupting in Baghdad. This is all part of the natural progression of liberty. Freedom isn't free, the path to democracy is not short and sweet, and an enlightened and enraged public has to speak out many times to effect lasting change in its nation's government.
From the signing of the Constitution, to the Compromises over Slavery, to the Civil War, to the Civil Rights Acts of the 1870 until the 1960s, freedom and Democracy followed a slow, steady, sometimes even slighted, but ultimately successful path in the United States. The world should expect nothing less from the countries just now breaking free from decades of oppression.
A nation of endemic corruption like Iraq was not going to rapidly change with the ouster and execution of one dictator, Saddam Hussein. A fledgling police force (security), stock market (commerce), and press (publicity) must flex their muscles over time in order to achieve a more responsive society on behalf of the Iraqi people.
American nationalists decried President Bush 43's invasion of Iraq as myopic and fantastical nation-building. True, nations must reform themselves from within, and we are witnessing that reformation transpire throughout the Middle East, including Iraq. In 2003, Coalition forces helped nudge that nation closer to freedom by getting rid of a brutal dictator who not only terrorized his own people, but set surrounding nations on edge.
If we consider the tumultuous course of events which Iraqi has borne over the last few years, they are ahead of the revolutionary tide sweeping the Middle East. Having witnessed the downfall of one dictator, having elected a parliament and prime minister, they have more experience behind them to react, rebel, and reform their nation's government in the months to come.
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