False hopes for U.S.-style government

Re “No substitute for democracy,” Opinion, Sept. 13

Max Boot, neoconservatives and many Republicans don’t seem to understand that democracy unto itself is nothing but mob rule. The Shiites in Iraq, however, understand this all too well, and they see their chance to exact revenge upon the Sunnis, align themselves with Iran and ultimately establish a theocracy in Iraq like Iran already has.

If the end result of the Bush administration’s effort in Iraq is two of the world’s largest sources of oil being controlled by Shiite theocracies, it will be a political failure on a historic scale.

JAMES LEE COOK

Simi Valley

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Boot claims that democracy in Mideast lands will bring us safety; reality shows differently. Mideast democracy has brought us Hamas-stan, an Iraqi government in which cleric Muqtada Sadr kills Americans, then gets his followers elected to parliament.

Boot and President Bush make the mistake of all multiculturalists: assuming that liberal Western values are universal. Unfortunately, other civilizations value their honor above freedom and vengeance more than peace.

Until our intelligentsia -- both liberal and conservative -- can accept that this is truly a clash of civilizations, our enemies will continue gaining victories even as we deny the war that we are in.

AARON C. SMITH

Carlsbad

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Besides President Bush, Boot must be the last neocon clinging to the idea that democracy will flower in the Middle East. Most people in the region want freedom, but they want it their way, not ours. They have little background in Western-style, participatory democracy, having experienced centuries of tribal, colonial or dictatorial rule.

Face it, Boot, the invasion of Iraq was one of this country’s most disastrous foreign- and military-policy debacles ever.

For the majority of Americans who are not of the neocon persuasion, it was so very predictable that Bush would leave the United States with a legacy like this.

ROD HERSBERGER

Santa Barbara