The United States did not achieve each and every one of these aspects of democracy immediately upon defeating the British in the American Revolution (Norton, et al, 171-173). It took a period of trial and error for the new United States to write a Constitution, which has been modified over time. Just as democracy was not born as a fully mature institution in the United States, it has not emerged in Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein without difficulties.

Of course, the critical difference between the American Revolution and the democratization taking place in Iraq is that the colonists in America rose up against the government that controlled them and the people of Iraq did not rise up against Saddam Hussein (Huang, 28). Iraq was moved along the path to democratization because the United States and a handful of its allies invaded Iraq with the express purpose of

Humanist, Jan./Feb. 2008, 68: 28-30.

O'Sullivan, Edmund. "U.S. History Offers Lessons for Middle East

A revolution and an invasion are unlikely to bring about the same consequences. In 1775, most of the leaders in the American colonies were in general agreement as to the kind of government they wanted to establish after defeating the British (Sellers, et al, 68-69). Certainly, there were differences of opinion as to such issues as the powers of the individual states and the federal government in the U.S. Many compromises took place before the American government could be considered established in its present form. Some elements of American democracy were not present when the country was founded; for example, only men could vote at that time and slavery was legal. All this being said, the reality is that the Americans created by themselves and for themselves a democratic republic that has lasted for over 200 years.

Weede (219) questions whether or not democratization can succeed in Iraq and suggests that the democratic peace proposition does not promise that poor, emerging, and illiberal democracies that find themselves surrounded by autocratic countries are inherently more peaceful than autocracies. While there may well have been a general consensus among the leading figures in the American Revolution on Enlightenment ideology, no such consensus can be identified in Iraq today (Sellers, et al, 37). Shi'ites and Sunnis there are still hostile to one another and no one has been able to deal effectively with Kurdish demands for the creation of an autonomous state of their own. Weede (220) believes that promoting the democratic peace by establishing democracy in Iraq raises a number of questions. One such question is whether or not a devoutly Muslim country in which there are many who believe t