With the Iraq War now on a nice simmer, rather than a full boil, we can season the pot for the future. There is a robust educated class, middle class merchants and the usual smattering of dirt poor, filthy rich, crooks, gangsters, religious zealots, loonies, disenfranchised and just regular strange people. Sort of like Canada or the US.
As noted in other posts, airlifting a Jeffersonian Democracy into Baghdad for all to use is probably not going to work, as humans always revert to tribal loyalty in times of stress. But the concept of Iraq being run by the Iraqis is sound. The US should make sure the lights come on, the water works, the phones ring and the cops are set to keep the gangsters from ripping up everything. Aside from providing transport to and from the meetings, the US military should keep its mitts off, simply because Iraqis want to run their own show and who can blame them for that.
The danger in the US is lumping Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran and all the other pan-Arabic countries into the same group. An ‘Arab’ is too broad a definition, often based on physicality, like Caucasian or Black.
For instance: I am a White Middle Class Canadian Male, For Which I Am Sorry. This does not mean I burn crosses on lawns, or my ancestors owned slaves, or I go out of my way to trash mosques. It just means I am a White Guy, prone to baldness and I have the rhythm-recessive gene, which precludes me dancing in public or private. Politically, I am a Red Tory or a Blue Liberal, Pro Choice, Anglican and Heterosexual.
Meanwhile, Rob S, a friend of long standing, is also a White Middle Class Canadian Male, For Which I Am Sorry who is also rhythm-impaired, but is Ardently Heterosexual, Politically a Libertarian, Reform Druid, Choice-Neutral and calls the Linux operating system a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Externally, we could be related and we can finish each others sentences, but we differ on a number of points. (Names obscured to at least try to skirt various slander laws).
Most Middle Eastern people I have met who are not Israeli have a somewhat benign attitude to all mankind. Live and let live, share what you have and tolerate others as long as they aren’t in your face. Except to a person they define themselves as Lebanese, or Iranian or Syrian, not always Arab. Same with us White Folks: Canadian, American, German, or from Dallas, Texas. Texas is always a subset. Don’t ask.
If the US can get over the term ‘Arab’ and worry more about the subsets of Iraqi, then there will be more possibility for success. There will be endless hours of bickering amongst themselves as this is normal: Just sit back and let it play out.
Afghanistan is a reasonable model. The tribal council, the Loya Jurgha (sp?) acted as a tribal parliament where the tribes came together, all as equals, to figure out their own solution which is working at least OK.
We can’t hope for much more than OK in the foreseeable future in Iraq, because they have had 30 years of insane dictatorial rule and those who knew anything else are now dead or in exile. There is a relearning curve that we will have to ride.
RoadDave 