We hear every day about how the Iraqi operation is part of the US's enduring tradition of supporting Democracy throughout the world. I don't see very much tradition in this. The two places, well make that three places where we have successfully implemented democracy to date are Japan, the United States and Germany. In all of these places, we poured our resources selflessly into the countries to turn them into 1st world countries. In the end, our efforts were repaid, and these countries are now some of our largest trading partners, and also part of the G-8 countries. If we were to do the same thing in Iraq, if we were to have gone in with truly selfless purposes, and not for cheap oil, then maybe democracy would truly work there too. The problem is Oil was a major reason for our invasion, as cheap oil helps both Bush's pocketbook and the politics of the Republicans, because everyone, or seemingly everyone, loves cheap oil, even at the cost of human lives. The other problem is that we just don't have a track record of supporting Democracies. We overthrew the democratic Iranian government and instituted a dictator. Think what kind of different world we would have with a powerful democracy in the Middle East. Further, we placed Saddam into power. And what about Pakistan? We support Pakistan's horrendous military rule and oppression of the people, while we continue to not support their Democratic neighbor India. We need to take a hard stance, like we did during World War I, for democracy throughout the world, and to stop propping up dictatorships, even if it means rising oil prices or a temporary loss of relations with Pakistan. In the end, it will pay off for both the United States and the people of the world.