Yahoo! News - U.S. Aim to Democratize Iraq Seen as Unrealistic

But a recent policy paper by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace described such hopes as a mirage. "The idea of a quick and easy democratic transformation is a fantasy," the report concluded.

The authors argued that obstacles to democracy in the Middle East went well beyond the autocratic nature of present governments to span a host of economic, sociopolitical and historical factors that would not be easily overcome.

"Iraq is a country torn by profound ideological, religious and ethnic conflicts ... The United States would have to become engaged in nation-building on a scale that would dwarf any other such effort since the reconstruction of Germany and Japan after World War II. And it would have to stay engaged not just years but decades, given the depth of change required to make Iraq into a democracy," the Carnegie report said.

This is the liberal altruistic goal of many people, some with libertarian leanings. I am surprised given that they are Ayn Rand fans, they do not see the dangers in that altruism impulse.