Simultaneous bombs exploded in a crowded temple in one of the country’s holiest cities. One of the entire religion’s holiest cities, no less. In a country where rival ethnic and religious groups have frequently clashed for years, the bombing raises the prospect of reprisal sectarian violence. It is holding together for the most part, but nobody knows what could happen next.

Hey, wait a second, this isn’t Iraq? And it isn’t the al-Askariya shrine in Samarra? I’ll give you one guess, but only if you don’t look at the post’s category tags. That’s right. India.

Known as the largest democracy in the world, India may not be as liberal as its Western counterparts, but it flies in the face of all structural theories of democratization. GDP per capita is incredibly low, much lower than the threshold of about $6000 for maintaining a democracy under modernization theory. It is also composed of competing religious groups — Hindus and Muslims — with Hindus comprising the vast majority. There are also different ethnic groups, with the Sikh minority being the target of mob violence for years. Heck, there’s even an enormous conflict with Pakistan over that little disputed territory of Kashmir.

Judging by the past 60 years of independence, India has been on the constant brink of civil war. Hindus and Muslims killing each other, local officials sponsoring the mass killing of the Sikhs, the possibility of nuclear annihilation. The bombing of the Hindu temple in Varanasi is just the latest in a series of conflicts. Yet in reality, the country is a functioning democracy that has held together through it all and is now growing into a powerful and more stable nation.

One day, the same will happen for Iraq. It could be 60 years from now before the Shia and Sunnis draw back on their past experience of co-existence, and before the Kurds decide that living within some arbitrarily drawn country called “Iraq” isn’t so bad. But waiting for history to move in this direction is too long to wait. Men like Gandhi did not wait. They acted. What is happening in Iraq now is action toward building a peaceful and democratic country ahead of schedule so that one day the entire region can draw from its lessons.