When I was young, there was a Disney cartoon on called DUCK TALES on every day, starring Scrooge McDuck and Donald Duck's nephews. In one such episode, an employee of Scrooge McDuck decides to demonstate his business acumen by launching a promotional compaign for a product called "Pep". The campaign pushes the idea of this new product without ever showing it. Television praises it, bill boards hawk it, and a whispering campaign has people on the street gossipping about it. Pretty soon, the public is rioting in the streets calling for "Pep"... when the employee reveals it never actually existed in the first place. Oops!
Newsday has published a new poll out of Iraq today, which reminds me much of this after-school cartoon episode. It seems Iraqis overwhelmingly want democracy... but have no idea exactly what that means or how it works. We can be encouraged that an Iran-style theocracy was widely rejected, but we must be worried that when Iraqis expressed a desire for a parlimentarian democracy (like England) they really don't know what they are asking for. Isn't this like ordering a hamburger without knowing what beef, buns, ketchup, mustard, etc, are?
Maybe now is the time to make the CSPAN channels standard on Iraqi television, and begin piping in similar televisived proceedings from other democracies in the area (Turkey, Israel, etc.). Combining this with some PBS-style channels explaining the mechanics of parliamentarian and American-style representative democracy could be an excellent next step toward independence for a Free Iraq. Perhaps adding in some Discovery Channel documentaries on peaceful demonstrations which lead to positive change in a democracy would also be useful.
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