The New York Times thanks America for "bringing democracy to Iraq"

Who writes this stuff? I swear, when you read the New York Times articles on the Middle East, you get the feeling that an official at AIPAC and a Pentagon official both go over every article and add their own propaganda cliches. Look at this sentence slipped into an article on Iraq: "and while the Americans might have brought democracy to this country, campaigning here is done in a distinctly Iraqi way." But if it is a democracy, why did the New York Times admit two days ago that Grand (not really) Ayatullah Sistani is the most influential man in the country?