But I was told the U.S. brought democracy and human rights to Iraq.
The thing is that they actually are a democracy now. A very flawed and intercepted one by the powers around, but still better than before. Hopefully Iraq develops a rule-of-law and codified due process, one way or another.
True, I've meant "democratic values".
This is the fundamental flaw in neoconservative foreign policy - you can't have democracy without democrats, as institutions do not stand on their own.
Free elections on their own do not a democracy make, although full democracies can still have plenty of human rights abuses.