So, Just How Bad Is It in Iraq? as per Christian Science Monitor

This article is about a specific region, Nineveh/Mosul


I also reject the idea that Iraq is full of savage beasts who can't be trusted with a representative government. We may not being doing it right, but it's not that it "can't be done". They're certainly capable of having a peaceful democracy under the right conditions.

I would go so far as to say as long as religion (yes, including Christianity) is calling the shots, a nation cannot have a "peaceful democracy"