>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11973510/
>
>This story is troubling for a few reasons. Aside from the obvious, this story demonstrates
>why the Bush administration's plan to force democracy on other countries will ultimately fail.
>
[snip]
>
>So, how can we reconcile this with an attempt to establish a government "by the people, for the
>people" when the people have no rights, such as the basic right to religious freedom we take for
>granted?

After having read this article http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP112306 I too have serious doubts about the democracy path.

Islamic religeous leaders forbid their people to believe something else, and these people do what these clerics tell them, because they are oppressed by religeous police and because they fear that it all might be true (heaven and hell).

Under these conditions a democratic election will lead to a culture where it is forbidden to believe something else.

The real battle between the free (the west) and the oppressed (the muslims) should be a battle targeted against the fundamental islamic clerics. This should ideally be a battle of words, but I'm afraid that words won't be very effective. The fundamental clerics are really sick in their mind, therefore could use a lot of therapy, should be imprisoned and oppressed, if not killed.