Two years ago today, US troops and others invaded Iraq. Today protestors mark that two-year anniversary.
The Bush backers, having long since given up on finding weapons of mass destruction, now claim that invasion was right because…insert their current justification here. A few months ago, it was right because Saddam was evil. Now it is right because democracy is spreading.
March 19 marks another anniversary. On March 19, 1951, the democratically elected government of Iran nationalized oil production. A CIA-led coup followed swiftly, replacing Iran’s elected leadership with the Shah’s autocratic rule–thereby setting the stage for the religious and nationalist backlash that gave the world Ayatollah Khomeini.
Democracy in the Middle East? Great idea! But as Russell Mokhibar and Robert Weissman point out, “We Had a Democracy Once, But You Crushed It.”