Eastern Europe Stands With Iraq

Eastern Europe remembers tyranny and dictatorship. Maybe that's why they've been far more willing to help out in the building of democracy in Iraq than Western Europeans have been. The ambassadors to the US from Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary stand together in saying:

Democratic transition is a long, painful process. It requires sacrifice. But, more than anything, it requires a belief that democratic values will prevail and people will have a better life as a result. We had that belief to guide us during the most difficult years of transition and we want to keep that belief alive in the people of Iraq. Maybe it takes countries with vivid recollections of tyranny to serve as the institutional memory of a larger community of democracies. If so, we are ready to fulfill that role.

While Eastern Europe remembers the sacrifice and hardship that is required of a new democracy, all too many in Western Europe have forgotten. While they too went through the same process not too long ago, and they received a lot of outside help to get there, this is now a generation removed, and it's easy to forget. While many of our Western European cousins clearly did not support the efforts to build the Iraqi democracy, let's hope that now that a democracy is afoot that they will jump aboard and finally support it nonetheless. This is not the time to continue looking away.