Billmon: Looking for a Dictator

Before the invasion, there were hints from some of the less wooly-minded neocons that a second-best alternative to "democracy" in Iraq would be a secular military junta and/or dictator -- with Turkey cited as the example of how such a regime could eventually (as in, over many decades) morph into a pro-Western parliamentary "democracy."

Democracy Boy basically blew that option out of the water with his impassioned speeches about freedom and McDonald's french fries being the inalienable rights of all mankind, but the idea still appears to be percolating below the surface, as the Los Angeles Times reports:

Should a second government fail, it would not only raise questions about Maliki's effectiveness but might indicate that anyone would have difficulty leading Iraq. Few in the U.S. government so far have suggested anything as drastic as another change in the leadership, although some, frustrated by the lack of progress, have voiced a private view in recent weeks that Iraq might be better off under a traditional Middle Eastern strongman. (emphasis added)