Last weekend the world shifted its eyes to one country: Iraq.

Iraqi citizens exercised their newly acquired right to vote Sunday. Now it’s time for those opposed to the war in Iraq to shut up and celebrate the “successful” elections, as they were called by the U.S. government.

BBC News reported that Iraqi citizens were excited and “very proud, that for the first time in [their] history… free democratic elections are taking place.” Others were not thrilled about the historic elections. They have called them a “big joke” in which the United States will bring a “stooge and dictator” to control their country. Some are thankful, others aren’t.

But, who can blame those who aren’t thankful? The country’s long-standing dictator — who violated human rights and committed genocide — was deposed, but only to be replaced by U.S. — foreign — controlled personnel who have committed violent acts against Iraqi people.

The United States has also placed a former agent of Saddam Hussein’s party as Iraq’s new leader. Although his position might change after elections, Ayad Allawi’s “strongest virtue is that he’s a thug” said a former CIA case agent in The New Yorker.

It is obvious that the United States continues to push for the “if you can’t beat them, join them” philosophy in Iraq. This philosophy has been felt by people in places like El Salvador and Puerto Rico, where U.S. terror tactics have forced allegiance to former authoritarians.

The civil war in El Salvador between the left-wing militias and the U.S.-backed and trained Salvadorian right-wing military is an example. The BBC News correspondent in El Salvador during the civil war wrote that the Salvadorian military that was equipped and trained by the United States committed around 70,000 murders and human rights violations — even murdering priests — to protect its ideals.

Another example of U.S. pressure by terror comes in the anti-independence and anti-nationalist movements in Puerto Rico, where a gag law was implemented in 1948 — four years before Puerto Rico became a commonwealth of the United States — so that Puerto Ricans couldn’t use the words naci¢n (nation) or patria (what a patriotic person calls his or her land) when referring to their island. The FBI also created and maintained blacklist files of nationalist and independence party followers until the practice was declared unconstitutional in 1988. These lists were not released until 1992. This might explain why the independence party now has about 2 percent of the island’s population as followers.

The greatest irony about the use of violent force by the United States is the constant criticism America levels toward Fidel Castro and Cuba. Castro’s government has violated the human rights of many of those opposed to his government and ideals, but hasn’t the United States done the same thing?

The “survival of the fittest” has led to the “if you can’t beat them, join them” perspective, where violence is a terror tactic used against the masses.

The war on terror has not achieved its goal of dissipating terror; if anything, it has continued to create rebels by terrorizing those opposed to it. For some of those who don’t rebel, they learn that it is better to teach their children to agree with the majority than to oppose it in order to survive.

As the most powerful nation, the United States could have set an example of non-violence in Iraq, not violating any human rights and proving humans’ ability to communicate. Still, with violence equaling terror, the United States has only proven to be another animal surviving as the fittest.