Alas! Poor Iraq!

What does a country racked by religious and ethnic divisions, undermined by religious fundamentalists of other countries, occupied by a wealthy but seemingly incompetent foreign power, and suffering the effects of a long term strategy of starvation and violence need the least?

That's right! Evangelical religion! Up to seven Baptist churches based on the Southern U.S. variety have been set up in Iraq since the "war" ended.

And there are people taking it up. This is unsurprising, since the religions of invaders very often are taken up by the captors, in an attempt to "get in good" with the new power elites. And it suits the victors, too, to have people acknowledge their dominance and righteousness this way. "See?", they'll say now, "We were doing God's work after all."

Such rationalisations have always been offered after conquest. But this isn't a crusade, no siree..