US goal in Iraq: "Cosmopolitan" views will fail in any culture
Reader comment on item: [Samuel Huntington and] American Purposes In Iraq

Submitted by Ken (United States), Apr 28, 2004 at 16:42

I agree with your conclusion that "the U.S. goal cannot be a free Iraq, but an Iraq that does not endanger Americans."

So there will always be dictators, even though less than ideal. Grow up and accept it!

To that end, one option can always be to foster and set up a "benevolent" dictator and cabinet that shares many of our views, and rules by integrity first, while sharing and/or respecting our "Biblical virtues". The problem of dictators is illustrated by Jewish history – in theory that should work, but human nature will have rough spots, eventually resulting in failure. The problem with democracies is, probably most nations do not have enough Judeo/Christian philosophy and moral values to make it work. So you have to pick the best solution for the country that you have occupied.

As a minimum, if you want to set up a democracy, you have to educate the populace. So far the US has failed terribly in this case. TV stations, radio stations, books, controlled social events, etc., are all forms of education that are ultimately more important than guns and war machines. If you cannot educate the populous, forget democracy! And forget democracy over night. Bush did not have a clear end-game in my opinion. Democrats and other liberals who hold onto the "Cosmopolitan" view would be doing even worse.

The "Cosmopolitan" view generally includes that man in basically good – So without guidance, things tend to come out good. The Judeo/Christian view holds that mankind has a tendency to be bad or to slip into doing bad – So part of being a good human being is to constantly fight that tendency of being bad. The "Cosmopolitan" and "Judeo/Christian" views will always be at odds with each other, and so will the results.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.