Democracy is being used as a badge of legitimacy for self-gain

THE Americans are promising democracy in Iraq, but at the same time they are saying that they are not going to allow a fundamentalist regime come to power there.

What if the Iraqi people desire a fundamentalist regime are the Americans going to deny them their choice? If they do, it will not be democracy but patent hypocrisy.

Of course, it will not be the first time for the Americans. It would be a repetition of probably their greatest mistake in history. Back in 1954 it was agreed at Geneva that the French forces in Vietnam would withdraw south of the 17th parallel, pending their ultimate withdrawal from the country by July 1956, while the Viet Minh forces of the Marxist Ho Chi Minh would withdraw north of the 17th parallel. The Geneva Accords specifically stipulated that the 17th parallel was just a "military demarcation line" that should be considered "provisional and should not in any way be interpreted as constituting a political or territorial boundary". The agreement further stipulated that there would be free elections throughout Vietnam by July 1956.