Submitted by Mike Clarke, Sep 14, 2007 14:22

The successes we are now beginning to see in Iraq are happening at the local level. And as Tip O'Neil once commented, "All politics is local." I think that in our eagerness to see Iraq develop into a Middle Eastern democracy, we didn't take into account that it is a tribal society, with the Sheiks carrying most of the weight with the people. If we can convince the sheiks that working with the U.S., rather than against it, will benefit not only them but their people, an eventual working democracy is possible. But it will take time.

We often forget that our own democracy was a fractured society in its earliest days, with individual states vying for their own special considerations when this nation was founded. It was only with time that these individual "units" were able to be fully united under our Constitiution, and even that didn't prevent the tragedy of the American Civil War.

If the U.S. continues to work with the Iraqis at the grass roots level, I can envision a day when peace will reign in their country, in spite of continued differences.

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