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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KonKilo who wrote (104397)	7/9/2003 2:57:59 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

We have no interest in establishing true democratic institutions...we want institutions that will be friendly to our interests. And we believe that truly democratic institutions, meaning representing the majority of Iraqis, and not hijacked by Ba'athists or Islamists, are by far the most likely to be friendly to our interests. There is no contradiction. Of course the Ba'athists must be screened out. Can you imagine setting up a democracy in West Germany while allowing all the Nazi officials to retain power? You do admit that West Germany was a democracy, even if it was friendly to our interests, don't you?

To: KonKilo who wrote (104397)	7/9/2003 3:58:11 PM
From: frankw1900	Respond to of 281500

...we want institutions that will be friendly to our interests. Well sure, that's nice. But you're hoping for a subsidiary effect there. We have no interest in establishing true democratic institutions Actually, you do. This is the most important thing the US and other Western nations can do to promote their long term best interests. It's not easy when you're starting out in places where the folk are basically below zero baseline when it comes to operating democratic organizations. Nonetheless, it's possible: With help from the US, the Iraqi Kurds (who are Muslims) have steadily been moving to democracy. They've had to do this against both internal and external opposition. It's not been a straight line but they're getting decent results. The case that the US government has "no interest" in seeing a democratic Iraq established has not been established and there is evidence, in both word and deed, for the contrary case. There is a mistaken idea among a lot of people that countries always act only for their nearest interest (eg. unimpeded purchase of ME oil) and to act for wider, further interests is unrealistic, hypocritical, and so forth. The terrorism which is a danger to modern, democratic people comes mostly from anti-democratic elements in undemocratic countries which often have actively anti-democratic governments. The long term solution is to surround the terrorists with democratic populations unfriendly to them. Iraq seems to me to be a good place to start since it was an ongoing crime against humanity under Hussein and has the perfect geopolitical location from the point of view of putting pressure on significant other anti-democratic regimes. This isn't without risk but leaving things as they were had terrible risks and practically no possibility of visible short or long term benefits. frank@ihavetogogardeningwithaspadingfork.com