BEICHMAN: Democracy's beacon

I am all for supporting the spread of democracy, but not if it results in greater bloodshed than would otherwise occur. The problem with Iraq is that the country is not really ready for democracy, and installing governments rife with corruption hardly qualifies as the promotion of democracy and democratic values. What happened to those pallets of hundred dollar bills we shipped over there? Did those go for reconstruction? And are private security firms like Blackwater winning the hearts and minds. Or does the painfully arrogant and ignorant actions of a bullying nation simply harden the resolve of those that despise the US? Didn't we inadvertently inspire a whole new generation of anti-Americanism? Iraq is not a stable democracy. Let's not rally with our pithy jingoistic litanies until we see what happens once the US pulls out and Sadr decides what he's going to do with his militia.