However, after many talks with a great deal of my friends about this issue over the past 4 years, I do believe that Iraq was better off with a dictator. How else do you prevent a civil war like what might happen in Iraq than to have a powerful leader create the fear in the people to rebel. As a defender of human rights and of the ability for all people to be able to live a life that they choose, it is hard for me to say this. However, I do feel that it is impossible to allow a society that is like the one in Iraq to peacfully exist without a feared dictator at its helm (a true Machiavellian principle).

Also, I do not know how one might jusitfy Baghdad being an international city under the UN administration, when you argue that it is wrong for us to meddle in the affairs of other nations. Isn’t that what the UN would be doing in that case (since Baghdad is a major economic center for Iraq). I think that your idea has good thought, and that you would like to see this work. Don’t get me wrong, so would I. I guess that I am just a little pessimistic now about this idea because of the way things have turned out so far (granted the reconstruction has been poorly managed). I feel that, practically speaking, there is no other way at this time and place.