Thomas Friedman visiting on ABC gave what I thought was an insightful discussion on the subject relating to Iraq. Our highest priority target is for them to have a multicultural, integrated democracy. THEIR highest priority is to have a democracy they can dominate (depending on whether they are Shia or Sunni) or an independent state altogether (if they are Kurd). In the near future the internal stressors of these incompatible visions will give way to "our" integrated vision OR the whole bottom will fall out -- which I would imagine means a boiling over of civil war rather than a rule of law.

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