Elf Sternberg

In fairness, to support your conclusion in a different way, is this article titled "Building Democracy Out of What?" by conservative David Brooks. At the time, he warned that the Iraqi people were traumatized after decades of Saddam's totalitarian rule, and anyone who expected them to be 'like us' immediately after so long an experience were likely to be sorely disappointed. Of note: it appeared in the Atlantic Monthly back in June '03, during the time when the honeymoon of the invasion was still going on and the insurgency hadn't really started yet.