Iraq and the Bloody Price of Lies

Western civilization lied and people died...

It lied, that is, to itself. I am referring to Iraq, but not to the hapless George W. Bush and the claim of WMDs’ existence, which, at worst, was not a lie but the result of faulty intelligence. The lie at issue here is more fundamental. It imbues Bushes, Clintons and Obamas, both the left and the right and most everyone in-between. It is the enlightened position of the modern man, a tenet of our times. It’s the idea that all people are basically the same.

While we often view democracy as the terminus of governmental evolution, the stable end of political pursuits, the truth is that civilizations have tended to transition not from tyranny to democracy, but democracy to tyranny (e.g., the ancient Romans).This brings us to the crux of the matter: Even if we can successfully install democratic republics in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, what makes us think they can keep them? Alluding to this, Ben Franklin observed,

"Only a moral and virtuous people are capable of freedom; the more corrupt and vicious a society becomes, the more it has need of masters."...

http://americanthinker.com/2014/06/iraq_and_the_bloody_price_of_lies.html

Good point Tess.

They had democracy, they had the power to keep it.

Unfortunately, they don't have the will, the want.

The English have been through wars and bloodshed in the past, i think Africa and the Middle East need to stand on their own two feet now and come through the other side hopefully better PEOPLE.

So, I expect the next step will be to begin a categorization of how people differ. Under what conditions do people tend toward democracy; under what conditions do people tend toward tyranny? Was it something called 'will,' as andy suggests? Define will. If not, what other conditions?

I'm interested and following.