  My urlLink brother has a post about what is going on in Iraq. Beside the theological question that he ends his post with, I want to discuss another issue that is mentioned in the post.
Happy makes the point that the big issue in Iraq right now is that the society there does not know how to handle freedom and the cost that is associated with it. But I believe that the real issue is not whether a society wants to be free or not, but whether when freedom is balanced with order, freedom should be our choice. I beg to differ with that because it seems that people choose freedom for the higher goal of having order (i.e. the ability to work, live and prosper as humans are intended to. ) This point is illustarted the works of Hobbes and Locke, where they point out that humans will choose to give up part of their freedom to have a law abiding society. This social contract makes the arguement that above all humans want order rather freedom that only brings lawlessness. This paradigm is also seen in a country like Singapore. For those who do not know, Singpore was ruled for 30+ years by a dictator, and many scholars point that Singapore fails miserably if measured by our standards of what freedom should look like.
(You know if you land in Singapore with long hair, you will not be permitted to leave the airport without a hair cut, gum is not sold on the island, if you are caught using a public bathroom without flushing, you will be fined etc. ) But ask the people of Singapore if they are happy and they will say YES! They like order, they like the fact that the island has prospered and made advances like no other.
That is why I believe the struggle in Iraq has to do with more than the issue of freedom, it has to do with order. The key of course is how much order do we want and how much freedom we are willing to sacrifice. Right now the Iraqis are saying "screw freedom, get me some order. " And who can blame them? I am not saying that things under Saddam were better, far be it. But what I am saying is this: We want to change Iraq and let them become a democracy? Then do it by maintaining order and then give them freedom. 
