U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is currently touring Europe to find allies to stop Iran from developing their own nuclear weapon program.
Of course there are also higher, more noble goals, like democracy. With or without force is yet up in the air, but the United States wants democracy across the world, especially for the Iranian people. And if governments are not willing, a good way is to bomb the countries till foreign soldiers can move in and Democracy can be established. A lesser, but also important agenda is of course to protect the interests – pardon – “freedom” of the USA.
Only hundred years ago, there where hardly any functional democracy established across Europe. Monarchy was the main political system all over Europe. Then came a time of change, and people got rid of “ruling” families, only to be replaced by dictators, like Hitler, Franco or Mussolini. Today, almost every country in Europe has a functional democracy and countries like France, England and Germany, who used to fight each other for centuries can live peacefully together. Don’t get me wrong, the USA can take a major credit for helping to establish democracy in Europe, but I think the involvement it is taking these days especially in the Middle east is very dangerous.
I think democracy can’t be “established” or forced upon a nation, it’s a process, growing over years and decades. Force shouldn’t come from outside, democracy must start from inside a countries to be successful and lasting.