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04/11/2004: "Iraqi Challenge"

There is certainly a lot of drama happenning in Iraq right now. To what avail?

Certainly Iraq is in play. We definitely play a roll in whether or not Iraq becomes a democracy.

I've already argued that this affects Iran. Iran is bankrolling Sadr. I'd also say this affects the entire Middle East. As I write this, I think, duh. I am far from the first to stress the importance of establishing an Arab democracy.

So how should the Middle East's dictators respond? I would expect them to slyly oppose our efforts. They would rather keep their positions of power atop seething cauldrons of anti Americanism than allow any transition to democracy. Again, duh.

Somehow, amid the questions of WMDs, intelligence failures, and cowardly and/or treacherous Iraqis, this larger point has been lost. The WMD genie is itching to get out of the bottle. We are fighting for the future of mankind. We cannot risk having an oil powered thugocracy. We cannot afford to quit.