Reply #197: Well, invading a country in order to overthrow a dictator

[Crunchy Frog]

is very different from simply witholding support for a dictator. I think we could promote democracy in the region and win respect among the people simply by not actively supporting dictatorships.

I don't see how the elections in Iraq promoted secularism. In fact, I don't see how we have been promoting it at all, which is why much of the country is coming more and more under the domination of religious law. It's why women who used to wear western clothes, go to school, and hold jobs, are now confined to their homes and forced to wear burquas. It's why alchohol can no longer be sold, and why barbers get harrassed and sometimes blown up.

We've taken a relatively secular country and opened it up to rule by Islamic extremists, and it's alot more than simply ethnic and sectarian conflict, though that's certainly part of it.

Bottom line is, we've taken a society that wasn't a threat to us, and made it into the premier breeding ground and training ground for terrorists who want to kill us.

Nice work by Bush and the neocons huh.