The US government might want democracy in Iraq, but starting a war was not the way to achieve it. When examining the nature of democracy itself, and examples of countries in transition to democracy, it becomes clear that invasion from an outside power undermines the very notion of what the US is intending for Iraq.

Democracy, of course, is a system in which a country is ruled by its people. In order for a country’s people to be able to rule, the people must have within them certain fundamental traits. First, they must have a sense that they have the right to this rule. For this to occur, they must have a basic concept of freedom, and a desire to attain it. Second, they must believe that it is their responsibility, their duty, to acquire these things. In short, they must be ready for the idea of independence. And democracy is nothing without this idea.

One of the major barriers to democracy in Iraq is its recent history. The people of Iraq have grown up in a country that has been the very antithesis of democratic ideas. A violent dictator for a leader. An economy run by the state, in which decisions are not made by The People, but rather for. A system in which the only way to survive is through the black market, which instills in people the idea that a system necessarily works against them, not for them.

Then consider that generations have grown up in this environment, further cementing it in the cultural memory of the people.

The closer one looks at Iraq’s recent history, the more it looks like another former state-run, top-down country that has recently transitioned to democracy:  Ukraine. Yet, it took Ukraine 14 years—enduring the fallout of total economic collapse along the way—and one Orange Revolution, to have its first truly democratic election and begin resembling a democracy. But talk to your average Ukrainian, and you are more likely to hear, “We’re waiting for the government to make things better” than “I have a right to a better government and here’s how I am going to personally make it happen.”

It is going to be a long time before real concepts of democracy and independence are instilled within the culture of Ukraine. Thus, it will be long before the problems stemming from the lack of these concepts go away. But not nearly as long as it will take in Iraq. Ukraine’s first four years of independence weren’t suffused with sectarian violence destroying infrastructure and stagnating progress.

Meanwhile, in trying to pave the way for Iraqi democracy, the US has succeeded in completely destabilizing the country. Sectarian violence rules. Basic public services and infrastructure have been decimated. Diseases like cholera a cropping up. It’s awfully hard for people to think seriously about democracy, or take a shine to it, when light switches don’t work, and they are too busy dodging bullets while running to the toilet to help some cholera evacuate. Even worse, it has been this way for four years now, and not likely to change soon. When conditions last a while, people start to consider them normal. How then will democracy be achieved?

For democracy, the worst isn’t the violence or the destruction. The worst came when the US invaded Iraq, and robbed the Iraqi people of their chance at real democracy. Democracy must come from within. That is not to say that the US couldn’t have helped Iraq gain independence, just as France helped in the US Revolutionary War. But it had to start from within. The people needed to be ready for it. There is a natural evolution to democracy. You can’t just give The People a government when so many generations grew up without the idea of running their own. It’s like giving car keys to a teenager that has never gone through driver’s ed.  Do we really want the Iraqis driving that car without first learning at least the basics of how?

But more importantly, do we really want to give Iraqis the idea that it is up to governments, especially outside governments, to establish one’s democracy? Isn’t that the whole problem with democracy in places like Ukraine? Aren’t dependency on a state, being controlled by a state, and having one’s fate determined by a state, all major reasons Iraq wasn’t a democracy in the first place?

This is not to say that Iraq should never become a democracy. War from abroad just isn’t how it is best achieved.