The fifth year anniversary of the Iraq invasion was yesterday, March 19. In commemoration, President Bush delivered a dogged defense of the war's merits at the Pentagon and emphasized the concrete progress the surge has achieved. Bush admitted the war has been longer, harder, and costlier than he anticipated, but success is still fundamentally worth it.

One reason the war is dragging on is that Iran has an interest in bleeding us and our Iraqi allies. Iran's relative power in the region will increase if Iraq descends again into sectarian conflict. Thus, we should not be surprised by Iran's subversive meddling in Iraq though it is very aggravating, I admit. We should take a lesson from Iran's behavior, because the Islamic regime is not changing course anytime soon.

The "democratic" elections held last weekend saw Iranian pro-Ahmadinejad hard-liners sweep into power over the reformist party led by Iran 's former president, Rafsanjani. With no freedom of the press , only the election's winners called it fair.

The trouble with Iran is that it has a façade of democratic procedure . U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia and Egypt hardly make pretensions toward democratic governance. But Iran does have regular elections, even though they are limited to thosecandidates vetted by the reigning mullahs.

With the victory of pro-Ahmadinejad hard-liners (whom the international media like to call "conservatives," as if conservatism is about imposing theocracy and depriving people of freedom), the hope of a more open Iran fades further into history .

This is all just to say that if Iraq does become democratic-in another five years, or ten years-it is because political liberty can only be achieved through sweat, toil, and oftentimes, the blood of patriotic men and women.