When Is Iraq A Failure?
Despite what the appeasement and jelly-spine crowd continue to bray, the deposing of Saddam Hussein and the attempt to establish a democratic form of government in Iraq was a good decision. Saying that does not mean that in the long-run that the goal of a democratic Iraq in the midst of Arabic autocracies and an Iranian theocracy will be a success.
Asserting all the supporting reasons for the Hussein ouster is not the purpose of this piece. Suffice it to say that Iraq is a major piece in the jigsaw puzzle of Muslim countries. It was a bold move to attempt to destabilize the status quo in today’s Muslim world.
Now that the U.S. has set the stage and planted the potential for a democratic country in the midst of despotism, what will be the root determinative factor as to whether or not the grand experiment will succeed or fail?
One line of reasoning goes like this. The experiment will ultimately succeed because all humans yearn to live in an environment of freedom, western style. And, thus given the chance all peoples will reach out and grasp the opportunity. Sounds good. After all, did not the American colonists do just that? There is a possibility of just a tiny problem with this theory. The people holding this view are most likely to be Westerners. Many Muslim peoples might not really want western style freedoms. They are probably much more comfortable with tribal and Sharia style freedoms.
Whatever form of government eventually prevails in Iraq will be dependent upon which side is the most willing to die for its principles. The U.S. and coalition forces can only battle the insurgent forces so long. Eventually the Iraqi government forces must do the heavy lifting. And, the new Iraqi government will only succeed if the Iraqi people are willing to fight and die for this novel democratic form of government. That’s the big unknown, is it not? We already know that the opposition is willing to die.
The Iraqi democratic experiment will be a failure if the Iraqi people fail to become infected with the desire for western style freedoms sufficiently enough to motivate them to fight to the death to maintain the freedoms.
Asserting all the supporting reasons for the Hussein ouster is not the purpose of this piece. Suffice it to say that Iraq is a major piece in the jigsaw puzzle of Muslim countries. It was a bold move to attempt to destabilize the status quo in today’s Muslim world.
Now that the U.S. has set the stage and planted the potential for a democratic country in the midst of despotism, what will be the root determinative factor as to whether or not the grand experiment will succeed or fail?
One line of reasoning goes like this. The experiment will ultimately succeed because all humans yearn to live in an environment of freedom, western style. And, thus given the chance all peoples will reach out and grasp the opportunity. Sounds good. After all, did not the American colonists do just that? There is a possibility of just a tiny problem with this theory. The people holding this view are most likely to be Westerners. Many Muslim peoples might not really want western style freedoms. They are probably much more comfortable with tribal and Sharia style freedoms.
Whatever form of government eventually prevails in Iraq will be dependent upon which side is the most willing to die for its principles. The U.S. and coalition forces can only battle the insurgent forces so long. Eventually the Iraqi government forces must do the heavy lifting. And, the new Iraqi government will only succeed if the Iraqi people are willing to fight and die for this novel democratic form of government. That’s the big unknown, is it not? We already know that the opposition is willing to die.
The Iraqi democratic experiment will be a failure if the Iraqi people fail to become infected with the desire for western style freedoms sufficiently enough to motivate them to fight to the death to maintain the freedoms.
posted by Paul Coambs | 9:37 PM
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