Advancing Freedom
Reader comment on item: Defending and Advancing Freedom

Submitted by Dr. Lee D. Cary (United States), Nov 2, 2005 at 14:46

Only one sentence in this article is, in my opinion, off target: "A mere 22 months, for example, passed between the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and elections for the prime minister of Iraq; in my view, the interval should have been closer to 22 years." "Should have" and "Could have," in this case, live not just on different planets, but in different solar systems. While 22 years would, sure enough, be an exercise in "requisite operational caution," can anyone imagine the media, the politicians, and a large segment of the public tolerating 22 years? Our collective (im)patience is already stretched thin at 22 months!

Dr. Pipes quotes himself from April 2003 writing that the basic freedoms (speech, assembly, minority rights, etc) need to be established "before holding elections." Had we applied that criteria to the US, our first Presidential election would have been in 1964. Or, according to some politicians on the Left, not yet.

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