Fareed Zakaria wrote:
Just weeks after the tragic fall of Afghanistan, something important has happened in the other country in which the United States conducted a great nation-building experiment over the past two decades: Iraq held elections, which were mostly free and fair. Assuming this process leads to the formation of a new government, it will be the sixth peaceful transfer of power since 2004. Although turnout was at a record low, this election marks real progress. A senior Iraqi official described it to me as “a political earthquake.”
Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post
I am not so snaguine about the Iraqi elections, but I hope Fareed is right. I am worried that Iraq may follow Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Libya, maybe Tunisia, Lebanaon, and others down the tubes. Corruption, religion, and triabalism make democracy difficult in the Middle East. I am not sure the unifying forces in Iraq can overcome the forces of fragmentation.
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