“Israel could live with a broken up and weakened Iraq”

Most Israelis supported the overthrow of Sadaam Hussein. The debate about the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction has not affected them much even when they were forced by Sadaam Hussein to use gas masks twice in the 90s. For Israelis, Sadaam Hussein was like the Hitler of the 30s and the French pacifying policy was like the policy of Vichy. His fall freed Israel from a threat.
However, with regard to the American messianic wish of turning Iraq into a democracy, Israelis are more sceptical. In the last 20 years we have witnessed the movement of global democratization but the Arab States have remained out of it. What is being questioned is not Islam but the running of the Arab societies with no democratic references at all. Besides, how can one create a democracy in a country that is not a nation? Sunni Arabs have always controlled Iraq and are still fighting to consolidate their control. The December 15 elections will not change anything.
But, is it important for Israel? Yes and no. Israel does not want a failure in Iraq to weaken the United States. But a divided Iraq into three small States or destroyed by a civil war would banish the threat Sadaam Hussein represented for a long time. When will the United States understand that a Western-styled democracy cannot be built in Iraq?