Los Angeles Times
March 14, 2003

Democracy Domino Theory 'Not Credible'

A State Department report disputes Bush's claim that ousting Hussein will spur reforms in the Mideast, intelligence officials say.

by Greg Miller

. . . The report, which has been distributed to a small group of top government officials but not publicly disclosed, says that daunting economic and social problems are likely to undermine basic stability in the region for years, let alone prospects for democratic reform.

Even if some version of democracy took root -- an event the report casts as unlikely -- anti-American sentiment is so pervasive that elections in the short term could lead to the rise of Islamic-controlled governments hostile to the United States. . . .

But the argument [installing a new regime in Iraq will foster the spread of democracy] has been pushed hardest by a group of officials and advisors who have been the leading proponents of going to war with Iraq. Prominent among them are Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, and Richard Perle, chairman of the Defense Policy Board, an influential Pentagon advisory panel. . . .

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"Democracy and Islam," The Wisdom Fund

Faisal Bodi, "The West, Not Islam, is the Real Enemy of Democracy," Guardian, January 13, 2003

Saied Reza Ameli, "Democracy in Question - the Persecution of the Believers," Islamic Human Rights Commission, June 30, 2003

[Arab states are largely squalid, corrupt, brutal dictatorships. No surprise there. We created most of these dictators--Robert Fisk, "The fantasy of democracy in an Arab state," Indpendent, February 13, 2004]