Political culture and Anthony Shadid

"Under American charge, an indisputable political culture has risen along the banks of the Tigris River, unparalleled in the rest of the Arab world." I was puzzled to read this sentence in the article by Shadid this morning. I dont know what he means by it but it is clear that he is misusing the term "political culture"--or worse, "indisputable political culture"--. I think he means a vibrant political culture and not a political culture per se. If he is talking about political culture, there is political culture everywhere including in closed or oppressive political systems. He may want to read Robert C Tucker's writings on the political culture of the Soviet Union under communism. So political culture exists in Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, and everywhere else in the Middle East. As for "indisputable political culture", that does not make sense at all. What does he mean? there is disputable political cultures? If he means a vibrant or dynamic political culture, it exists as he well knows also in Beirut and to a lesser degree in other places although its expressions are repressed by the state like in Egypt. But the Iraqi political culture is controlled and shaped and managed and moulded by a variety of anti-democratic factors: the American occupation which decides what is acceptable political speech and action and what is not; a religious hierarchy that decides what is permissible and what is prohibited, politically and socially; and there are also the various segmentations that were reinforced by the occupation. And what does "under American charge" mean? In fact, the Iraqi political culture would be far more vibrant and less divisive and less obscurantist and religious laden, without any "American charge."