Cuban-style democracy is apparently good enough

The U.S. is now trying to convince the various Iraqi political parties to combine forces and present a coalition ticket in the Jan elections (uh, referendums?) -- I guess we wouldn't want them to get too much of a sense of democracy in action! what next -- thinking for themselves? debating ideas? freedom of speech and religion???

From the LA Times:

One U.S. official in Washington said the administration now believes Iraq needs a "negotiated resolution … a scaled-back democratic process."

Between the two conflicting key goals, "I see the arguments for stability now outweighing the calls for democracy," said the official, who declined to be identified. The formation of a unified slate would further entrench the U.S.-allied parties, which are mostly led by longtime exiles with dubious popular support and are still viewed with suspicion by many Iraqi citizens.

As Rafe at rc3 says of the new plan: That may be the right answer, but they really shouldn't have teased the Iraqis with the idea that they'd get to choose their own leaders for all these months. Sigh.