This started off as a response to the Admiral's comment below, but grew, so I promoted it to 'post' status.
Not wrong. I will be honest and say that altruism would be very low on my list of motivations.
However, I do think that we have a role to play in State-building, whether it's done under the aegis of UKGov, EU, or UN. In the long months leading up to Illegal Invasion. I read many concerns - which I shared - that the US would go in, destroy, and frank bough out, leaving others to pick up the pieces. You and I opposed the war. Unfortunately, that doesn't alter the reality that it happened.
I happen to believe that the best way to ensure that Iraq is rebuilt as a peaceful, prosperous, democratic nation is to work towards establishing the rule of law. I was being flippant about the need for auditors. In my real view, democracy is about the freedom to vote in open, free elections, with a freedom of speech and assembly etc, but is also about the way that civic society operates.
Paddy Ashdown was on the radio in his capacity as Commissioner for Bosnia, and talking about how they had established an efficient and non-corrupt police force, but their effectiveness was compromised by the willingness of judges to take bribes.
If I can contribute to establishing a (relatively) uncorrupt rule of law, I'll have no qualms of playing a small role. If done wrongly, it will be imperialist, but if done sensitively should be no more imperialist than the work of DfID in developing countries.
(Which may well be a whole different debate, but one in which my views are informed by superficial information.)
Nice to have you on board, BTW. I know you've been lurking a while, and I've been lurking back!
