Fifth Year of Iraq Invasion - Not in the name of democracy

The Bush administration should be careful when it talks about democracy in the Middle East. The idea is too valuable, and too vital, to be used as cynical camouflage for other agendas, whether those are based on oil interests, or Israel's, or the desire to have a solid military beachhead in a volatile region.

America does not seem to realise what bitter memories the Arabs have of foreign democracies trying to shape and dominate the region.

It is dismaying to watch as America, which long ago rejected the notion of colonialism, seems about to repeat the mistakes of an old Europe whose past attempts to dominate the region by force have lead to more than a million Arab deaths.

America is also mimicking the preemptive war doctrine and policies of Israel, which have failed utterly to bring peace or security.

Washington has a history of double standards in the region. Its closest allies have long included some of the least democratic.