Reply #41: I think you need to be less ethnocentric...

[lunarboy13]

You can't simply view different cultures through your own paradigm and expect them to react exactly as you or any other American would under the same conditions.

Democracy in a country such as Iraq is possible, but will be extremely difficult to maintain because of all the different religious factions that want control. The people of Iraq suffered horribly through the Saddam regime and most are still suffering as a result of the war and its aftermath. President Bush did them a great disservice by not fully planning for the post-war in Iraq. Bush and his administration kept pushing the impression of Iraqis welcoming our troops with flowers, that there would be no long-lasting insurgency. This reveals an even greater mistake, they did not consult with a single cultural anthropologist during the planing for the war. If he had, he would have had a better picture of how we would have been viewed by the Iraqi people. There are many, many complexities to consider when initiating any sort of contact with people of another culture. You have to try and see the world from their perspective -- from their cultural world-view. And then you must also try to see how they view us.

Bush did none of this , nor did he even effectively plan for the aftermath of the war itself. It is through this grave series of errors that many Iraqis and many Americans have lost their lives. This is one of many, many reasons the Iraqis (as well as Americans) have to be upset with President Bush. If there is ever going to be an Iraq that makes it out of the rubble and begins to stand on its own as a democracy, it will be inspite of everything President Bush has done thus far. And if that democracy stands the test of time, Iraqis will look back and perhaps give thanks to some of the American soldiers who helped give them their start. They will most certainly give many thanks to their fellow Iraqis, for if Iraq is to become a long-lasting democracy, it will be because of the resolve of many, many Iraqis themselves. One person they will never thank, however, will be President Bush.