ROMNEY KNOWS THE MIDDLE, BUT NOT THE MIDDLE EAST.  

We're back in Bush country. During the third debate Romney basically agreed with President Obama, and when he strayed, his ignorance of the region was obvious. With sweeping generalities he sketched an administration that would mediate and soon have every Mullah yearning for Democracy. It's the Bush/Cheney daydream. They jumped into Iraq with fire in their eyes, but nothing between their ears. They pictured a people freed from a vile dictator embracing democracy with the zeal of the starving getting their first meal after a long drout. They had seen those John Wayne movies. The ones where people freed from tyranny come running out of their houses bearing flowers and kisses for the conquering troops. Well, they toppled Sadam, captured him and killed him. It was a victory for brute force, only the bombs were smart. After winning, the White House had no plan. John Wayne war movies usually end after the effusive greeting of the natives. There was total confusion. No translators, soldiers weren't told what the looter policy was, nobody knew who was in charge, and everything ran amok. Soldiers who were part of Sadams army, were fired and became insurgents. We had stumbled into a tribal society and watched helplessly as old rivalries erupted anew. Bush made a big to-do over Iraq's first election. Democracy in action. And the end result? A corrupt government, with the people still not getting what they need, and the killing hasn't stopped yet. We won Afghanistan. We drove the Taliban out. We should've stopped there. But we abandoned Afghanistan to invade Iraq, for no good reason. You can sneak up on a tiger and slap it on the ass, but you'd better have you're escape route carefully plotted. Are you listening, Mitt? Democracy is a good thing. But it's not a one-size-fits-all thing.