This Monday, tomorrow, marks the fourth year anniversary of American Presence in Iraq. That’s 48 months. That’s 208 weeks. That’s 1256 days. And what has this country accomplished? Nothing. What has this country lost? 3,200 American troops, not including the Iraqi civilians who have lost their lives. After hearing these numbers, ponder over the question of why: If we know Iraq has no nuclear weapons of mass destructions, and the bad guy Saddam has been killed, what are we still doing there? Well, the response we’ve gotten is that the American troops are helping stabilize Iraq by imposing a democracy on the state. That’s hypocritical. How can America try to imbue a democracy on Iraq if we don’t have a true democracy ourselves? Dictionary.com defines a democracy as a government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. In America supreme power is supposed to be exercised on our behalf under our elected representatives. But that’s not the case – a war is going on on behalf of the American people, even though it’s a war the majority of Americans disagree with. According to the Gallup Poll, 6/10 Americans oppose the war in Iraq. That’s a clear majority. If American people truly were able to exercise their power, they would be able to end this war. Even though American’s have shown their discontent through numerous protests and other means, our representatives haven’t listened. Maybe it’s because our representatives aren’t who we truly wanted. Everyone knows that Al Gore won the Presidential election in 2000 – he earned the majority vote from the population. If he had been given his right to exercise power, America wouldn’t be in the mess it is now. So if America can’t even properly embody the true nature of a democracy, how is it going to spread this political structure to other countries? As Gandhi said, “Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today.” – Maahum Chaudhry