THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 240, November 2, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
IRAQ, UNPLUGGED -- BEYOND THE POLLS, OP-EDS, & POWERPOINTS:
WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON
By Michael Rubin
USING IRAQ TO SCORE PARTISAN POLITICAL POINTS, AT THE EXPENSE OF THE IRAQIS' NEWFOUND FREEDOMS & AMERICA'S
NATIONAL INTERESTS & SECURITY: SELF-SERVING CRITICISM OF UNITED STATES POLICY IN IRAQ ON THE PART OF
IDEOLOGUES, PUNDITS, POLITICIANS, & SOCALLED "SCHOLARS" WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN IN IRAQ OR OUTSIDE THE U.S. SECURITY
ZONE IN IRAQ, WHO LACK ADEQUATE INFORMATION ABOUT CONDITIONS IN IRAQ, & WHO COULD NOT CARE LESS ABOUT THE
PLIGHT OF THE PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIVING IN IRAQ -- MISREPRESENTING THE SITUATION IN IRAQ IN ORDER TO UNDERMINE
AMERICAN POPULAR SUPPORT FOR THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION & GAIN POLITICAL MILEAGE FOR BUSH'S POLITICAL
OPPONENTS --THE TRUE SITUATION IN IRAQ: A PICTURE MUCH MORE COMPLEX THAN THAT PRESENTED BY THE NEWS
MEDIA -- A BOOMING ECONOMY -- GRADUAL PROGRESS TOWARD RECONSTRUCTION & CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY
FULL STORY:
On Friday, October 28, 2005, Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald indicted Scooter Libby on five counts of obstruction of justice,
false statement, and perjury. The charges are serious but, as columnist David Brooks noted in the New York Times,
Fitzgerald found no evidence of the broad conspiracy hinted at by journalists, bloggers, and partisan pundits. Nevertheless,
opponents of the Iraq war have painted the indictment as evidence of original sin. For example, the American Conservative,
a journal of isolationist and anti-Israeli opinion, accused the Bush administration of "forging the case for war." Liberal Leftist and
antiwar blogger Arianna Huffington argued that "the scandal has reignited a national debate about the White House lies and
deceptions that led us to war in Iraq."
Washington has always been an arrogant town. Whatever the issue, pundits use the crisis of the day to score partisan points. Sure,
there should be accountability for intelligence failures not only about overestimating Iraq's weapons program in 2003, but also for
underestimating them in 1991. Nor should policymakers feel comfortable about previous Central Intelligence Agency misanalysis of
nuclear programs in India, Pakistan, and Libya. But the Iraqi people should not be sacrificed upon the altar of Bush hatred, Clinton
hatred, or Kerry hatred.
Too often, countries like Nicaragua, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq become templates upon which U.S. pundits and politicians
wage political battles unrelated to the plight of the people actually living there. The fiercest critics of the Iraq war have never
stepped foot in Iraq. Some professors say they speak Arabic and volunteer informed comment, but they have yet to visit the
country about which they claim expertise (Iraq Air flies several times a day to Baghdad from Amman, Dubai, and Istanbul). Many
congressmen and think-tank scholars have visited Baghdad or various forward-operating bases at the invitation of the State
Department or Pentagon, but they have not escaped the strict U.S. security parameters. Lunch in the U.S. Embassy cafeteria gives
little more insight into the situation in Iraq than would lunch in Peoria. Few Embassy officials escape the Green Zone or suffocating
convoys. Their PowerPoints seldom correlate to reality, not by design, but rather because the treatment is too sterile and
unchecked by personal interaction with ordinary Iraqis.
A COMPLEX PICTURE
Those who have experience beyond the bubble in Iraq paint a very different picture. It is not always rosy. Professors Fouad Ajami
and Eliot Cohen, both of Johns Hopkins University, have made critiques that not everyone in the Bush administration or the
foreign-policy elite wants to hear. Kanan Makiya is often acerbic in his criticism — which is exactly why his input is so valuable.
Wherever they stand on the political spectrum, the nuance of debate among those with experience in Iraq stands apart from those
who may cloak themselves with self-righteousness, but have unrelated political axes to grind.
Iraq is a complex country, difficult to crystallize in a simple poll. But this is exactly what too many news organizations seek to do.
On October 24, 2005, for example, the Guardian reported a new poll finding that 82 percent of Iraqis were "strongly opposed"
to the presence of foreign troops in their country. Critics of the war seized on the poll to demand immediate withdrawal.
True: Polls do not lie. Iraqis dislike occupation. They resent stopping on busy highways for slow-moving military convoys. They
juxtapose the Green Zone's generators with their own worsening electricity supply. They fail to understand why U.S. diplomats who
seldom leave their quarters must block off the center of their city, rather than build their cantonment on its outskirts. They are
annoyed by helicopters hovering over their villages. But such annoyance with occupation does not translate into demands for
immediate withdrawal.
Polls in mature constitutional democracies like the United States are difficult enough to conduct and get right. The task is far more
formidable in post-autocratic societies. When pollsters, instead, ask Iraqis to prioritize their top-20 concerns, withdrawal of Coalition
troops usually ranks near the bottom of the list. Restoring electricity, combating corruption, and maintaining security are
consistently at the top priorities.
Iraqis are struggling to reconstruct their country and their lives, but they are not desperate. Unemployment is high — the Iraqi
government estimates it to be 28 percent nationwide. Underemployment is higher. But the war did not create Iraq's unemployment.
Nor, for that matter, is U.S. bombing responsible for decrepit schools, potholed streets, and poor infrastructure shown so often on
network and satellite-news channels. Forensic auditors who reconstructed Iraq's prewar budget were astounded by Saddam
Hussein's disdain for his country. In fiscal year 2002, for example, the Iraqi government spent only $5 million total on the physical
plant of school buildings. Saddam's palaces, though, had elaborate fountains, Italian marble, and gold-plated inscriptions. This
does not mean U.S. officials are without blame. Neither the Coalition Provisional Authority nor the United States Agency for
International Development has much to show for billions of dollars spent on grandiose projects.
NEW ECONOMIC LIFE
Nevertheless, Iraq's economy is booming. Many Iraqis — denied employment under Saddam Hussein's regime for reasons of
ethnicity, sectarian identity or for refusal to join the Baath Party, now have jobs. Iraqis' own private investment, aided with capital
remitted from family members abroad, has enabled the private sector to boom. Banks, restaurants, and furniture stores occupy what,
just last year, were empty lots or abandoned storefronts. In August, 2005, new business registrations topped 30,000; this figure
does not include the number of start-ups which still ignore Iraqi-registration rules.
Ordinary Iraqis are financially better off now than they were at any time in the past two decades. According to World Bank and
International Monetary Fund estimates, per capita income has doubled since 2003. Iraq's per capita gross domestic product is today
almost twice that of Yemen and nearing that of Egypt and Syria, hardly a sign of failure in a country in which, just three years ago,
antiwar groups insisted children were starving en masse. Statistics aside, the Iraqi economic boom is apparent to anyone who visits
an Iraqi market. Not only are appliances and luxuries in the stores, but customers are actually purchasing them.
Iraqis today employ technologies that were nonexistent or off-limits to all but the Baathist elite just three years ago. As of September,
2005, there were more than 3.5 million cell-phone subscribers in Iraq, for example. Under the Baath Party, there was no cell-phone
service, and possession of satellite phones was a capital offense. Internet cafés dot not only Baghdad thoroughfares, but also dusty
back streets in provincial towns. When I visited the (restored) marshlands of southern Iraq, I checked my e-mail and sent dispatches
from internet cafes not only in the Maysan provincial capital of al-Amarah and the Dhi Qar provincial capital of Nasiriyah, but also in
small, dusty towns like Islah, a Dawa stronghold on the edge of the marshes.
Daily reports of violence suggest Iraq is tearing apart at the seams. Ethnic strife remains a possibility, but it need not happen. While
the Bush administration has been inept at making its case, the White House has little for which to apologize. Iraqis debate. They
tolerate dissent. Politicians hash out compromise. The Iraqi Constitution may not be ideal, but it is fair. Meanwhile, tens of millions
of Saudis, Syrians, Iranians, Tunisians, and Egyptians still struggle under dictatorships. They lack a free press. While self-described
Liberal bloggers pillory the White House, they ignore the plight of Lotfi Hajji, President of the Tunisian Syndicate of Journalists;
Ayachi Hammami, Secretary General of the Tunis Section of the Tunisian League for Human Rights; or Nejib Chebbi, Secretary
General of the Progressive Democratic party -- all of whom are conducting a hunger strike in Tunisia to win the same press freedoms
now enjoyed by 25 million Iraqis. Libyan dissident Fathi el-Jahmi continues to rot in prison for demanding that Libyan strongman
Muammar Qaddafi allow contested, multiparty elections. If only Arianna Huffington, Juan Cole, The Nation, or the New
York Times would focus some of their attention on these dissidents' plights, the world might be a better place.
Reconstruction and achieving constitutional democracy are processes. Progress is slow, but, to those who know Iraq, it is there.
Iraqis criticize certain Washington decisions and Embassy strategy. Few, though, see any merits in abandonment.
In both Washington and Baghdad, administrations will come and go. Scandals will happen. Prosecutors will demand accountability.
Courts will rule. The innocent get exonerated, and the guilty pay a price. In no case, though, should Iraq be treated a template for
cynical politics. Twenty-five million Iraqis deserve better. So do U.S. military servicemen taking extraordinary risks, more than 2,000
making the ultimate sacrifice, not only for Iraq's freedom and liberty, but also U.S. national security. For those to whom
inside-the-Beltway games are paramount, some serious soul searching is in order.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
Page Two
Page One
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
-------------------------
THE NATURE OF MODERN CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY:
CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY & OTHER POLITICAL REGIMES
Modern Constitutional Democracy -- Fundamental
Character & Essential Ingredients
Constitutionalism -- The First Essential Igredient
of Modern Constitutional Democracy
Dictatorship -- The Opposite of Constitutionalism
Representative Democracy -- The Second Essential
Ingredient of Modern Constitutional Democracy
Direct Democracy & Representative Democracy
Political Culture & Modern Constitutional Democracy
Modern Constitutional Democracy -- Summary & Conclusion
Michael Rubin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, is Editor of the Middle East
Quarterly. He has spent 20 months in Iraq, all but three months outside the U.S. security zone.
The foregoing article by Michael Rubin was originally published in National Review Online, November 1, 2005 and can be
found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
November 1, 2005
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