Are Americans being hypocritical when it comes to building a new democratic nation in Iraq?

That was a question we had this week while reading reports of the continuing debate about whether or not the United States should pull its troops out of Iraq immediately.

The argument is that we're not gaining much momentum in the new, free Iraq as a number of political factions within the Arab country remain divided.

Critics of our involvement in Iraq point to the history of fighting, bickering and arguing throughout the different ethnic and religious regions of the country as a reason to just give up on trying to make peace and do what's right.

&#8220They've been fighting for centuries over there,” critics sometimes say. &#8220Nothing we can do can stop them from keeping up the fight.”

If we apply that same logic to our own country, we should seek a quick dissolution of the union.

Quite logically, a cotton farmer from Louisiana has a different set of beliefs and needs from government than does an Ohio industrialist or a California film producer. So rather than working to seek common ground, let's just give up.

The notion, when applied to our country, sounds a bit ludicrous, doesn't it? When you peel away all of the layers of regionalism, religion and race, Americans generally have much more beliefs in common than we have differences.

The same could be said for Iraq.

Iraq's biggest problem was the sudden overthrow of its long-time dictator, Saddam Hussein, by Allied troops.

America is also facing a big problem now, although not as violent, equally as destructive to property and the livelihoods of millions of Americans - the disaster left in the wake of the 2005 hurricane season.

Last week, Congress, state and local legislators were still in disagreement over how the nation should aid in the clean-up and rebuilding effort, and more important, how much we can and should spend.

Our nation's leaders could greatly bolster their diminished public image by simply rolling up their sleeves and doing what is right and what needs to be done.

The hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast cannot be rebuilt on the cheap and the nation doesn't have the available resources to throw money around as though it were candy. We need to be frugal in our spending, but with the goal of reinvesting in our nation, not merely helping it &#8220get by.” That sounds simple, but will require much work and compromise to achieve.

As any good head of household knows, that's going to mean some short-term sacrifice for some long-term gain. States such as Ohio will likely need to cede some of its federal dollars temporarily to the cause of the greater good of our country. These credits will easily be repaid when the Gulf Coast infrastructure is rebuilt and our nation is again solidly on its feet.

That same logic is at play in Iraq. Once the roots of democracy take hold and begin to grow, the debts incurred in the process can be repaid three-fold.