[MMMMMM]

Well we've also said we won't permit the installation of Islamic law as the basis of government (even if they were to vote for it). It must be realized however that if Islamic law were voted in it would then take over the political process and rule, and effectively prevent democracy from ever really taking hold. So in a democracy you just can't have "anything goes" even if it's voted on. That's one reason why there are Constitutions in democratic republics.

Similarly if Baath Party officials who were instrumental in fostering and maintaining Saddam's reign of terror were to control many important government posts Iraq might soon largely revert to what it was before.

So yeah, it's not a complete democracy yet. A Constitution needs to be drawn up first too. And true Baathist thugs are going to be sort of shut out for a while. Too bad, huh? It really isn't perfect.

I get the sense that many of your dissatisfactions with all manner of things (including the USA and politics in general) stem from their inabilities to live up to idealistic perfections. I guess that's just the way the world works. I greatly wish it were otherwise too, but it isn't, and Iraq isn't going to be completely liberated, reconstructed or democratized overnight. And its democracy probably isn't ever going to be perfect (and I guess the Blame America First crowd can always carp about that too).