Comment by somenameforme

I seriously hope I am straw manning you, but I don't think I am? Are you implying that invading countries and the consequent devastation of their population is something we should accept or tolerate because they don't have the "right" political system? The same political system where we are supposed to be able to oppose these wars and decide our own future, yet remain powerless to do in spite of largely overwhelming support against them?

In Iraq estimates for the total (and now severely dated) deathtoll [1] range from "just" hundreds of thousands to over a million. That's in a country that had a population of 25 million just before the war (2002). So the higher end of that measurement sees us having killed, or been otherwise responsible, for more the deaths of more than 4% of the population.

Beyond the barbaric and reckless brutality of it all, it also amounts to less than nothing. Democracy doesn't work in countries where people are polarized. In Iraq you have three mostly incompatible groups if Shia, Sunni, and Kurds. And large chunks of each group would be perfectly happy to see the others wiped off the face of this Earth. In this case democracy degenerates into an unstable tyranny of the majority. A problem we're likely to see if divisions within the country continue going in the current direction.

So in our brave new Iraq, the past 4 years have seen endless political assassination, insurrections, and the government killing hundreds of protesters against it all. Since the formation of the new Iraq style of government in 2004, only 2 of 6 prime ministers have managed to complete a single term. And one of the two guys that completed a single term was forced out by an insurrection shortly after the start of his second term.

The vast majority of Iraqis felt they were better off under Saddam. But hey, wrong political system - right? And Iraq looks like a utopia compared to most of the other countries we "democratized."

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War