THE body of Saddam Hussein swings and his neck is strangled in the noosewe watch it on a video recording replaying that dramatic moment, and perhaps we whisper: a dictator dies in a cramped room, and a democracy is born.

But what can be said about democracy, really?

In Europe and America, decent people feel disgusted and revolted and say: Ah, the barbarism of Arab countries! and they forget that the democracy they know began with a performance of a