Democracy v. the United States

What's more important, principles or interests? Long-term interests or short-term interests?

Few people would argue that Ukraine's democratic "Orange Revolution" was a good thing for the U.S. However, one of the election's immediate consequences is the withdrawal of Ukraine's 1,600 troops from Iraq (NYTimes). "The Willing" of our coalition turned out to be a ruling clique; the Ukrainian people were not willing.

This is a relatively clear-cut issue: a democratic Ukraine is worth more even in the short run than the 1,600 soldiers it has supporting us in Iraq. However, how would we react if the British elected an anti-war government and decided to yank their troops? What's more important to America: our principles or our interests? More nebulous yet, who decides? These are hard questions that history will ultimately give the answers to.