Democracy Inaction

John Robb wonders...

What we may end up with as part of this push towards "democracy" in the Middle East is civil war. Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine are all on the brink of it now. Are we better off with this?

Yeah, I think the next chapter is still being written while people rush to chalk up an "ends must justify the means" scenario for democracy breaking out in the mideast.

There are so many directions this could go. Think of this as a complex system that is not very well understood with more than a few elements of chaos.

This is not a "guzinta-guzoutta" simple equation. And no, Bill Maher. I agree Bush stumbled into something, but a fresh pile of democracy in the mideast is not yet clearly the pile he stepped into.