"Many of the intellectuals and policymakers who supported the invasion of Iraq and theorized for the war have been backtracking in terms of their expectations of the new “democratic polity,” which the war, in their minds, was designed to create. Notably, the war's supporters (on the American and Iraqi sides) seem to have abandoned the idea that Iraq will follow the “German” or “Japanese” models, whereby an invasion by a “benevolent” democratic force will lead to the creation of a healthy and prosperous democracy, almost in an organic fashion, once the shackles of authoritarianism are removed."