The sooner US troops are out of Iraq the better. Let them fight it out on their own, our presence has done nothing but prolong the anguish.

Justin,

Good article however just a few points I wanted to bring up. While it is ideal that libertarians should support "freedom" for everyone, we must remember that not everyone wants "freedom". What does "freedom" entail to begin with? All governments tyrannize to some degree. It is just a matter of how much tyranny you are willing to put up with.

The "Greenies" are I think not a majority in Iran (2-3,000 core protesters out of a country of 70 million), nor are they really calling for significant changes to Iran's Islamic government. There is some frustration at A-Jad's idiocy and perhaps isolation and some economic strife that has roiled these protesters (mostly students ergo young and naive) enough to take action.

So the cheerleaders here in America (now yourself included) looking in from the outside on a situation in a country that we really do not understand, are coming off as supporting this minority. I recently finished reading Khomeini's lectures on Islamic Government (quite instructive) and I have come to the conclusion that Khomeini (the Khomeini at least that gave these lectures) would side with the protesters. The current government may have strayed too far from the Imam's vision of Koranic government to the point that a correction was in order.

Still that correction (and now coming full circle with my original point) may look nothing like a Western style government (which Khomeini also rejected) and so may not necessarily be "free" by American standards. But so what, let the people of Iran decide, if the majority wants to keep this current (albeit a distant echo of Khomeini's vision) style of government then so be it.

As it pertains to Iran's quest for nuclear weapons, I would contest that the possession of nuclear weapons is not necessarily a bad thing for world peace. I will refer you to the writings of Kenneth Waltz (the doyen of neo-realists) who has argued that nuclear weapons (if possessed by all states) may lead to a decline in warlike behavior. For now I am willing to wait and watch and see who emerges from this issue. But I would not hold my breath waiting for a liberal democracy.

Thanks