6. @normative makes the point that democracy in Iraq wasn't a realistic goal. That is almost certainly true but also, I think, irrelevant.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
7. Goal wasn't democratic Iraq but a compliant Iraq. The damning thing about Iraq was was they couldn't even achieve a compliant Iraq.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
8. The people who did sincerely believe in democratizing Iraq often pointed to post-WWII Germany & Japan to say it was reasonable goal.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
9. Why was USA able to reshape Nazi Germany & Imperial Japan into (limited, flawed) democracies. Answer is actually complicated
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Replying to @HeerJeet
10. One big factor is the sheer scale of horror that was unleashed: firebombing cities & dropping atomic weapons will cow the survivors.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
11. But post-war German & Japanese elites also compliant because they feared USSR & later communist China.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
12. Fear of communism meant that the conservative (often fascist) elites in those societies were eager to work with American occupiers.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
13. Finally, what democratization occurred in in post-WWII Germany & Japan came from grass-roots labor movements (often resisted by USA).
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Replying to @HeerJeet
14. During the American occupation, the Japanese labour movement made a big push for democratic reform. Kennan etc. resisted but not totally
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@UncredibleHallq Perry Anderson's new book American Foreign Policy and Its Thinkers discusses & cites sources.
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