U.S. can create an open, free Iraq

[mr mahs]

Before the Iraq war, the critics were predicting that Iraq was going to be the Bay of Pigs. A week into the war, we were told Iraq was Vietnam. Now, after the war, they're telling us that Iraq is Iran - that Iraq's Shiite majority will turn it into another intolerant Islamic republic.

The critics were wrong every time. They are wrong again. Of course there are elements in the Shiite community who would like fundamentalist rule by the clerics. But even the majority of Iranians consider the Islamic revolution a disaster. The Shiite demonstrators on Iraqi streets represent a highly organized minority, many of whom are affiliated with, infiltrated by and financed by Tehran, the headquarters for 20 years of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

Iraqi society is highly fractured along lines of ethnicity, religion, tribe, region and class. It is in the interest of all of them, most particularly the Kurdish and Sunni minorities who together make up about 40% of the country, to ensure that no one group wields absolute power. And, as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld correctly pointed out, America is there to make sure that doesn't happen. One man, one vote, one time is not democracy.

Moreover, Shiism is extremely decentralized. Among the Shiite majority itself, there are myriad ideological and political factions. Islamic scholar Hillel Fradkin points out that Khomeiniism - the seizure of political power by clerics - is contrary to centuries of Shiite tradition.

Does this mean that Jeffersonian democracy is guaranteed in Baghdad? Of course not. But the U.S. is in a position to bring about a a genuinely pluralistic, open and free society.

The administration erred, however, by going initially for occupation lite. It did so understandably at first, victory having come so swiftly. But there also appeared to be a conscious decision to downplay the occupation, lest we stoke Iraqi nationalism and resistance. This was a mistake. The way to succeed is with occupation heavy. The administration is hurriedly sending in about 4,000 more soldiers, heavy with military police - and not a moment too soon.

What the administration has done right, on the other hand, has been to exclude the foreign latecomers and meddlers who want to get in on the reconstruction. The administration gave the perfect response to the United Nations claim that it alone can confer legitimacy on the running of Iraq: We ignored it. Legitimacy will come out of the ground in Iraq, as more and more factions join in the construction of a provisional government.

Tellingly, even the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq sent a delegation to the last meeting with Jay Garner, our proconsul in Baghdad. Even the Islamic radicals know the Pentagon is prepared to move with or without them. They know who's in charge. We need to keep it that way.

[georgym]

Since the Americans played a significant role in the overthrow (along with the UK and Australia), they should play an important role in the reconstruction.'

However, just as important, the U.S. should be in discussion and consultation with other arab nations, such as Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran, since they will be bearing the brunt of the change, and are neighbors

[vicman]

what gmc said.