President Bush early on in his administration said that the U.S. policy of trying to purchase stability at the price of supporting these authoritarian regimes was a bad bargain; that authoritarian regimes are not stable, and they needed to open up and give their people a chance to participate in their future.
Hadley discusses President Bush's stance on the need for authoritarian regimes like Mubarak's to open up and allow democratic participation.
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America has never accepted the idea that it had to choose between its democratic principles and its interests.
I think the main thing that we have to think about is how to explain to the American people that our safety and security depends on a different--that we can't wall ourselves off from things.
Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into action.
An American withdrawal or stepping back right now would be a prescription for fast failure and chaos that would envelope not only Iraq but also the region.