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Article: Regional implications of the Iraq war.
- Article from:
- Foreign Policy in Focus
- Article date:
- March 27, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Institute for Policy Studies. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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President George W. Bush's vision for the Iraq War was nothing if not expansive. Liberal democracy and popular sovereignty were to supplant tyranny not only in Baghdad, but in nearby capitals as well. And the force of U.S. arms would not be needed to accomplish the latter missions. As Bush asserted to eager applause at the American Enterprise Institute on February 25, 2003, "a new regime in Iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example of freedom for other nations in the region." Democracy, the war party believed, would be contagious.
In Syria and Iran, the authoritarian regimes would be chastened by Washington's show of force into acquiescence to U.S. ...