You touched on something that I hear a lot of from other sources:

I am puzzled by the concept that Arabs don't want, or worse, can't handle, a pluralistic, secular, individualistic form of government. Of course, if all you listen to are the radicals marching down the streets, you might get that impression, but it isn't accurate.

The fact that this idea is most often promoted by liberals is the oddest part. It smacks uncomfortably of the old pre-Civil War Southern thesis that blacks would not do well as free men because they just didn't have what it took to live that way. It was all for "their own good."

And of course, it's not too surprising that you would hear resistance to the idea of democratic systems from the thugs who currently rule most Muslim Mideastern nations.

The "American Style" of government does not exclusively appeal only to white Europeans. We wouldn't have people from all over the planet climbing over each other to get here otherwise, and the United States and Europe certainly do not have monopolies on successful democracies in the world.

And we "imposed" a certain kind of government on Japan, which seemed to do all right afterwards. Not the same as Iraq, to be certain, but we have to stop thinking about these people as ignorant tribesmen.