Bush gambling his presidency on Iraq
Bush and neoconservatives still foolishly refer to a "free Iraq" as a model for the region. They may be right -- if other Arab populations are eager to incorporate into their lives daily car bombs, shootings by soldiers at checkpoints, torture of prisoners by liberating armies, the rise of fundamentalist groups and violent militias, clerical control of political affairs and many empty promises of democracy. Colonization does not work in the 21st century, and the Iraqis who suffered under Saddam will settle for nothing less than full independence.
George W. Bush certainly cannot be faulted for lacking focus. It seems that once the man makes up his mind, there is no changing it. Iraq, it would seem, has turned into something of a holy crusade for Our Sainted President, and it's a crusade upon which the future of his Presidency may hinge.
The only real way to secure Iraq, Bush argued, is through self-governing democracy. Only representative self-government denies the terrorists the pretext they need to kill. It is only through the mundane acts of democratic citizenship that Iraqis will be able to build a civil society. It is only through self-government that Iraq can become secure.
The political transition Bush described implies an infinitude of concrete acts. The 400 parties that now exist in Iraq will have to meld into just a few. Conferences will convene, and people will debate. Politicians will vie for power; petitions will be signed; protests will be lodged. That, Bush implied, is the only practical path to normalcy.
It's a huge gamble to think that the solution to chaos is liberty. But it's fitting that during the gravest crisis of his presidency, President Bush reverted to his most fundamental political belief. He began this war in Iraq repeating the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence, that our creator has endowed all human beings with the right to liberty, and the ability to function as democratic citizens. He said Monday night with absolute confidence that the Iraqis are democrats at heart.
Bush is betting his presidency, and the near-term future of this nation, on that central American creed.
It's an epic gamble. Because, let's face it, we don't know whether all people really do want to live in freedom. We don't know whether Iraqis have any notion of what democratic citizenship really means. We don't know whether they hear words like freedom, liberty and pluralism as deadly insults to the way of life they hold dear. We don't know who our enemies are. Are they the small minority of Baathists and jihadists, or is there a little bit of Muqtada al-Sadr in every Iraqi's breast?
Bush is putting American values to the test in a place that has known little but a brutal, repressive dictatorship for the past 30+ years. Let's face it, the Middle East isn't exactly the birthplace of democracy, and nowhere is this more true than in Iraq.
To assume that Iraqis will rise up and assume the mantle of liberty is all well and good, but that assumes that Iraqis understand the meaning of the concept. Not that freeing the world of tyrants isn't a good thing, mind you, but we need to be certain that whatever replaces that tyrant isn't equally evil but merely different.
During the Tienanmen Square rebellion in 1989, reporters asked students what it was that they hoped to achieve from the "revolution". The almost universal answer was "Democracy". When asked what "Democracy" meant, the answers made it abundantly clear that the students had no real idea of what a functioning democratic system was all about. It's becoming clear that the same phenomenon is in effect in Iraq. One cannot reasonably expect democratic values to flourish immediately in a country with no democratic traditions. It's going to take time, patience, and courage for democracy to win- if indeed it even can.
For George W. Bush to stake his Presidency on the future of democracy in Iraq is, quite honestly, a recipe for disaster. Then again, if one was looking for a one-word description of his reign to date, "disaster" would do quite nicely.
