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"Iranians Feel America's Presence in the Region Helps Their Chances at Freedom," PR Newswire, 9 June 2005, http://www.pressreleases.be/script_UK/newsdetail.asp?nDays=d&ID=27152 (from Publius Pundit through Seeker Blog).

"The Spreading Democracy Debate -- Fourth Rebuttal," by Marc Schulman, American Future, 13 June 2005, http://americanfuture.typepad.com/american_future/2005/06/the_spreading_d_4.html (from ZenPundit).

Beginning with a glorious map of a less-than-secure Iran...

By invading Iraq and toppling Saddam, we completed our encirclement of Iran. Viewed from this perspective, Iraq is a theatre in what remains to this day our cold war with Iran. Had it not been for 9/11 and Bush's response to 9/11, this would not have happened: US flags would not now be planted in the soil of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Do I know whether surrounding Iran was Bush's unspoken Grand Design? No. Am I happy that the mullahs see us everywhere? Yes.

A recent public opinion survey of Iranians, conducted by The Tarrance Group, surprisingly found that a vast majority (74%) of Iranians feel America’s presence in the Middle East will increase the probability of democracy in their own country. The survey, which was the first of its kind, found two-thirds of Iranians believe that regime change in Iraq has been a positive for both neighboring countries: with 66% believing that it served Iran’s national interests, while 65% believed the Iraqi people will, in the long-run, be better off.

Commissioned by the Iran Institute for Democracy, the survey discovered that a solid majority (65%) of Iranian adults consider fundamental change in Iran’s system of government, especially its Constitution, a must to bring freedom and more opportunities to their homeland.