"Democracy does not mean that governments have to ask the people their opinions on complicated issues and then carry them out. It is essentially a form of society within which the conception of new ideas, their diffusion in view of their acceptance by the majority, the fight for leadership, is open to everybody."

Emery Reves

Senate Hearings, Friday 7 May 2004 

When we see Rumsfeld being questioned -and I think his set piece "apology" quite effective despite the media view that he did not answer questions very effectively - we feel that a democracy is operating and this gives us, in western democracies, some confidence. We can only hope that people in the Middle East are able to see the hoops of fire through which Bush and Rumsfeld are having to jump in the name of democracy.

 

Hands up - who hasn't read the Peter Galbraith article yet ?


  ¶ Friday, May 07, 2004