Oh, and I should point out... I think you can militarily impose dictatorship on people, or monarchy, but I think forced democracy is an oxymoron. It's like saying the Peace Corps is forcing clean water on Africans.
A tribal or feudal system is something that bubbles up from the interaction of family, religious and geographical relationships, and really can't be imposed on people, either, though if Afghanistan is any indication, feudal/tribalism is just another word for chaos.

"1. is it right to use military force to impose a specific form of government (democracy, monarchy, tribal unions, whatever) on an alien people;"
No that would not be right, and fortunately that is not what is happening. Is there some serious group in Iraq putting forward the idea of a monarchy? Have I missed the angry press conferences by frustrated leaders of the Tribal Union movement? The Iraqi people will ultimately decide - democratically - what kind of government they want for their country.
All those Iraqis waving their purple fingers in the air and dancing in the streets didn't look too imposed-upon to me. Our military is there to maintain some semblance of order while the Iraqis hash things out for themselves, which is happening.
"...and 2, does any thing in iraq in the last 50 years, make that 500, (make it 5000) give any sign that they are ready for participative democracy?".
Well, the purple finger syndrome I mentioned before is a pretty good indicator. I expect that the British thought the same thing about the American colonies in 1776. It had to have looked like some kind of mad New World fever that had taken hold of the people. Those barbarians really think they can rule themselves?
We are not imposing democracy, we are giving Iraqis a chance at democracy. Ultimately, they will accept or reject it, and I think everyone realizes that.
And I think if they can begin to reject the fascists among them, they are capable of anything.

A clear mind can answer "Yes" or "No". A muddled mind cannot.

Anonymous-
You say that I made a caricature of your position.
How? Please tell me.
You did not answer my question. Are you seriously suggesting that we should have removed Saddam and then just LEFT before any alternate form of government had a chance to form?
In the case of the baby, of course you are not morally obligated to raise it... but I would think that you would be morally obligated not to leave it laying by the tracks after you rescued it (him/her).

Anonymous-
Are you seriously suggesting that we should have removed Saddam and then just BUGGED OUT before any alternate form of government had a chance to form?
Brilliant.
I can understand those who think we should have just let things be, but I can't believe that anyone would actually assert that we should have just left the Iraqis with no government at all. I have never talked to anyone who held that opinion before.

Anonymous-
Do you really not see that the current situation in Iraq gives the people of that country the best chance they have had in a century for a really stable and humane government?
No, there is no guarantee of success, but I am damn proud of the fact that we have given normal human existence a fighting chance over there.
"Don't ask an army to act like cops".
How should they act?
And, Thanks Jim for your kind words. I gratefully accept them for my Dad and Mom and for all cops and their families.

Tim, my post here is unrelated to political matters, much less to the war in Iraq, something that I, a Marine, am all to familiar with. I speak, rather, to your post above. I do so as the son, brother, nephew, cousin, and (now) uncle of various NY & NJ cops.
Thanks, Tim, for the family you hail from. I am safer, today, because of your Dad's courage.
God bless.

"'bring the troops home.' A very appropriate comment on the 33rd anniversary of the day our last combat troops left South Vietnam. Yeah, let's repeat the errors of the past and abandon people to the wolves of the world. Watch the dominoes fall again."
You are correct. Because of our failure to win in Vietnam the Communists have succeeded in taking over one country after another. Let's not let that happen again.

What's funny is that, when the troops eventually do come home, the lefties will take credit for it... "Bush finally bowed to our pressure and brought them home", no matter how long the troops will have been there, or what they will have accomplished.
News flash: Everyone wants the troops home, even Bush. Maybe especially Bush.
My Dad was a cop, and I'm sure my Mom was always praying that he would "come home", but that doesn't mean she would have wanted him to skip out in the middle of a bar fight and leave his buddies behind in order to come home and take his usual seat in the La-Z-Boy.
She wanted him home, AND she wanted him to do the honorable thing by kicking tail and taking names alongside the other cops.
In many ways, the U.S. is not only the world's policeman, but the world's EMT, and if you don't belive that, look what happens after any major disaster. Either massive relief efforts by the U.S., or complaints that we haven't done enough, or both.
And like a cop, if we do nothing, people will complain that we are callous and don't really care about the suffering of others.
If we give food and work and money, people will complain that we didn't give enough, or that we were inefficient, or helped the wrong people too much, or didn't give the right kind of food...
If we do anything that requires force, people will complain that we are brutal repressors who should mind our own business. Even the ones who dialed 9-1-1 in the first place will cry foul if we have to get rough. My Dad saw this many times, and often found himself being struck and spat on by the same woman who called to report that she had been beaten by her drunken husband husband (who my Dad was now dragging to his squad car).
That's life. We are a wealthy country, and that makes it incumbent on us to help out when we can. But we shouldn't expect it to be any fun, and we shouldn't expect any thanks.

"bring the troops home." A very appropriate comment on the 33rd anniversary of the day our last combat troops left South Vietnam. Yeah, let's repeat the errors of the past and abandon people to the wolves of the world. Watch the dominoes fall again.

Bring the troops home.
And ensure that the fanaticals will be the only ones to ever fight?

Since the beginning of the war I have had a nagging feeling that unless the Iraqi people actually fought and defeate their fanatical oppressors our efforts would be in vain. I do not believe that the U.S. would have ever become a great nation had France simply liberated us instead of the Revolutionaries fighting and dying for their freedom.
Similarly, I wonder what Christianity would have looked like had the early Christians not been willing to die for what they believed in.
If we end up losing in Iraq, it will be because the only people who fought for what they believed in were the fanaticals...