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Originally Posted by theknife
iraq is a whole other ballgame: it was an oppressed country who was invaded by an major power without invitation or consent of it's people. it was stripped of it's bureaucratic infrastructure and left in ruins - now it's being ostensibly handed back to a group of people who have competing interests and hidden agendas (including fronting for other countries like Syria, Iran, and the US). the pressure for a constitution is being set, not by thier own efforts, but by the US, who is in a hurry to make the process look successful.
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Iraq, like other countires formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, have only made this kind of progress under the stern direction of western nations. Nationalism is a relatively new practice in the Islamic world which has struggled through the centuries to remain unified, but most Islamic nations now have well defined borders and central governments. Iraq is in a special situation in which three ethnic groups occupy the historical boundry line between Sunni and Shi'a dominated reigions (as the melting pot of the Islamic world Iraq is a cultural analog to the United States), and the resulting animosity is why they have been lagging behind their neighbors. Iraq is going through some growing pains, and I think that's how these times will be remembered in the history books. Even if you view their new democracy as a sham, it's still progress. It is not only the Iraqis who want peace and prosperity for themselves but also their neighboring Islamic states, if only to keep Iraq from sending more armies across their borders.