A Puzzler

I must admit that US foreign policy is a puzzle to me.

The US invaded Iraq to spread freedom, liberty, and democracy, right? It had nothing to do with oil or the attempted assassination of Bush senior. I think I remember hearing things about Iraq becoming a beacon of freedom and democracy in the region that would invite all of its Arab neighbors to join it.

The closest US allies in the region are dictators such as the Saudia Arabian royal family, Mubarak in Egypt, the royal family in Jordan, and the now ousted dictator of Tunisia. Why is it that the US government fears democracy in those countries? Perhaps it is because democracy is a flawed system and they know the results such a system will produce. It may produce democratically elected Islamic governments as occurred in Palestine (Hamas), Hezbollah in Lebanon, or some of the Islamic parties seen in Turkey and Pakistan.

In the end, the word "democracy" is a piece of propaganda that our government uses when it wants to as an excuse to do something like invade Iraq. Ultimately, it is a philosophy they fear when it is applied to other places such as Egypt.