MadelynIris said:
Can we really change the middle east to sort of a modern western way of thinking? Iraq would be our best shot at this moment.
Personally, I think it's doubtful that Iraq will achieve that, if only because that statement isn't mindful of the traditional distribution of Islamic culture.
It is a remarkable fact that, with few exceptions, most Muslim scholars…in the intellectual sciences have been non-Arabs, thus the founders of grammar were Sibawaih and after him, al-Farsi and Az-Zajjaj. All of them were of Persian descent they invented rules of (Arabic) grammar. Great jurists were Persians. Only the Persians engaged in the task of preserving knowledge and writing systematic scholarly works. Thus the truth of the statement of the prophet (Muhammad) becomes apparent, "If learning were suspended in the highest parts of heaven the Persians would attain it"…The intellectual sciences were also the preserve of the Persians, left alone by the Arabs, who did not cultivate them…as was the case with all crafts…This situation continued in the cities as long as the Persians and Persian countries, Iraq, Khorasan and Transoxiana (modern Central Asia), retained their sedentary culture. --Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah (1377)
Basically, in terms of cultural influence of Islam, historically, it is divided between three cultures: Arabic, Persian, and (I believe?) Turkish. So, basically, I doubt we're going to get a revolutionary change in the region, unless you can get all three of the main actors on our side.
Unfortunately, Iraq's place in all of this is merely where the three nations that are most representative of those three cultures--Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey--try to extend their influence, and so I doubt that Iraq is ever going to be a model for anything. Turkey is already fairly Western-friendly, and so, even though the Turks and the Kurds hate each other, I think it isn't surprising that the Kurds are the most secular of the three factions in Iraq, because of Turkey's cultural influence. On the other hand, Iran and Saudi Arabia will be rather difficult to change. Traditionally, Iran would probably be the easier of the two to "Westernize," and we saw measures of that in the mid-20th century, but we do happen to have a rather awful government in power there that has used anti-American rhetoric as one means of staying in power. So, chances are, that won't be changing, as long as their current government is in power. Saudi Arabia, likewise, will probably be very difficult, due to the traditional close ties between the House of Saud and Wahhabi Islam. Of course, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. also have traditional close ties, at least economically, so they may be more open to persuasion, particularly if they even sniff the possibility that the U.S. might become energy independent and not need them at all anymore.
Unfortunately, for all our hopes, I don't think that Iraq registers all that highly in the Middle East importance scale. But I guess, while we're there, it's worth a shot.