Perhaps I would call it "idealism", but I take your point.
It's a not uncommon affliction among American presidents. Wilson is a good case study both of such presidential (and American) idealism and of the dangers inherent in assuming that if you give people of a certain ethnicity (however that's defined) their own nation, they'll make good use of their freedom, and there will be peace and stability in the region. Look at how well the League of Nations turned out, or look at what happened in the Balkans since World War I and the craze for "self-determination".
Balkans, the former Yugoslavia and civil war, is a prime example, that in hard times the separation of ethnicity and religions is a good thing to do. When regimes of Soviet Block collapsed there were no domestic wars in Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Check republic. These countries had monolithic populations, at least great majority of one ethnicity, language and one religion. A present from Stalin's ethnic engineering.
However Yugoslavia was a multi-ethnic construct. It was held together by Tito and communist party dictatorship. Once the overlord was gone the hell broke loose. Yugoslavia broke into 3 major parts with 3 distinct religions; Catholic Croats, Muslim Bosniaks, and Orthodox Serbs. The rest of the story is well known. Genetically and linguistically they are like brothers, but nobody seamed to care about this back then.
Actually, on this base of Balkan recent history, I recognized the need of splitting Iraq shortly after Bush invasion, and learning few details about composition of Iraq's population.
As for a coalition force to maintain "order" in Iraq and to offset Iranian hegemony, at the time the local "players" wanted no part of it, although they seem to be having second thoughts now. Such coalitions are also usually a mirage, in my opinion. Most of the European powers are always long on talk and short on money and manpower. The Gulf States are always playing a double game. There's also the fact that no matter what foreigners may think, there's no appetite among most Americans for acting as the world's policeman for long periods of time. There is no understanding of the strong streak of isolationism in American history, a desire for isolation from the ethnic and religious conflicts of the "old world" which is alive and well in American life and politics.
Of course things are not very certain with promises and coalitions. In this case for smaller countries it is important to belong to more than one coalition, union or military pacts. I'm not sure, but could it be possible for these small Near Easter countries to join NATO?
More and more I am thinking that it's really only countries that are the product of what used to be called "Western Civilization", countries that were part of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, who are capable of true self government and a liberal (in the classical sense) society that prizes personal liberty. Or is that Euro-centric of me?
I'm sure it is not only European thing, and giving the right circumstances all countries will be democratic and society free and equal. As I mentioned in other threads, this is are basic Hunter Gatherer instinct, the natural longings of human kind. We are coming back the full circle.
However, building a democratic free country is a long process. It is more like a process of liberalization, escaping and breaking the long traditions of hegemony, monarchy, old power circles, religions supporting old order, patriarchal traditions, etc. It took Europe pretty much a half of millennium. From Renaissance, laying down ideas of modern society, to end of 20th century, when finally the democracy and freedoms for all were locked in stable countries. This after a huge straggle with tyrants, hyper nationalism, racism and communism of First, Second and Cold Wars. Steady economic growth which enriched middle class and even the poor, gave a helping hand too. Mind you that this process is still unfinished in some countries of Eastern Europe with Russia leading the pack.
For that reason, when I look at Near East, I can see the process of freedom and democratization starting now. It was a naive to expect good results immediately, but I don't think it will take them 500 years to achieve that. It will be a fast forward development thanks to the helping West, education, investments and faster growth. I would say two generation, 50 years, and things will stabilize for them too.
