Crossing fingers for Iraq

Tomorrow's election in Iraq overshadows the petty squabbles of, say, the Danish General Election in scope of its possibilities and problems.

If the election leads to a viable and strong parliament this might be a step in the direction of a succes for nation-building by force. However the trees won't grow into heaven. The democracy that Iraq will have will take years to get to a really workable form. But I am afraid that the Western leaders and their constituencies will tend to forget that. The paradox is that democracy is a form of government with at real bad short time memory. And failures always seems bigger when you miss the historical dimension.