It can´t happen overnight

Dear Sir, RAY Fleming's Looking Around (11/10) raises the question of the U.S.A. not having planned for/anticipated the results in Iraq after their invasion. One knows that George Bush had little knowledge of anything beyond U.S. shores, but surely “someone” in his administration would have realised that dropping some thousands of bombs and missiles on a weak military nation, and occupying it with some 200'000 troops would not bring instant, Western-style democracy? After all, it took the U.S.A. 100 years to get rid of slavery (between Washington and Lincoln) some 150 years to give women the vote, and were quite efficient at ethnic cleansing and relocating a nation (i.e. native Americans), so how could anyone expect Iraq to comply within a few years? The continued suffering and strife in Iraq will be a lasting monument to Bush, long after he has left his position; it will be small consolation to the Iraqi's though. To touch on another article by Mr. Fleming, the final (one presumes) solution to Germany's new chancellor, Frau Merkel, one hopes, for the sake of stability and progress the “grand coalition” works, but if only one thing has been made clear out of that election, it is that the French system is the best, i.e. when there is no clear winner with a working majority, the two leading parties go to a run off a few weeks later. The Polish are in that same process right now and it would seem the fairest way of having a stable government, which is very much needed these days.