E Lucky R, what you say is very true. In a recent survey in Iraq, just 29 per cent thought that democracy was important, whereas 56 per cent thought that a strong leader was the most important factor in a safe, stable Iraq.

It is a result of extraordinary Western arrogance that we assume we can, like a fairy godmother, grant the people of a backward Eastern country the magic gift of democracy, and that will solve all their problems at a stroke.

This is a deluded, simplistic idea. Successful democracies evolve, they are not imposed - a lesson we ought to have learned from Africa.

Iraq is a disaster of Western intermeddling in Eastern affairs. It was none of our business, but the cash from oil was too much for Bush's lobbyists to resist.