THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 226, November 26, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
RIGHT WAR, BOTCHED OCCUPATION
By Dr. Michael Rubin
WHAT WENT WRONG IN IRAQ? ADOPTION & IMPLEMENTATION OF POOR DECISIONS BY U.S. POLICYMAKERS --
IRAQ'S TRANSFORMATION INTO A STABLE CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY UNDERCUT BY U.S. RELIANCE ON DIPLOMACY,
FAILURE TO SECURE IRAQ'S BORDERS, APPEASEMENT OF FRANCE, GERMANY & THE UNITED NATIONS, & CREATION OF AN
IRAQI ELECTORAL SYSTEM THAT ENCOURAGES ETHNIC & SECTARIAN CONFLICT
FULL STORY:
As American troops entered Iraq, U.S. President George W. Bush promised the Iraqis individual freedom, the rule of law,
and a stable constitutional democracy. But, in Iraq today, terrorists and partisan militias tear the country apart. After
billions spent and the sacrifice of almost 3,000 U.S. troops, it is right to ask whether constitutional democracy in Iraq was
not a fool's dream.
It was not.
U.S. President S. Truman faced similar questions about Korea. Critics accused him of embroiling America in open-ended
war, ignoring his generals, and losing touch with reality. They said constitutional democracy was alien to Korean culture.
Time proved the critics wrong. Any juxtaposition of nuclear North Korea with democratic South Korea shows the value
of Truman's policy.
President Bush was right to liberate Iraq. Saddam Hussein had started two wars, used chemical weapons, and subsidized
suicide bombers. He claimed to have weapons of mass destruction. Sanctions had collapsed; containment failed.
With military action inevitable, the U.S. White House was right to pursue constitutional democracy in Iraq. Cynical
realism created Saddam. Iraqis who fled their country, meanwhile, had no problem accepting constitutional democracy;
Iraq's problem was both its lack of rule of law and its tyrannical dictator's unaccountability.
What went wrong? Iraq's transformation was undercut by naive faith, not in constitutional democracy but, rather, in
diplomacy. Instead of securing Iraq's borders, the Bush administration accepted Syrian and Iranian pledges of
non-interference. They believed the canard that Iraq's neighbors sought a stable, secure Iraq. Both countries exploited
U.S. trust.
Then, to win United Nations support, the U.S. White House defined itself as an occupying power. Overnight, liberation
became occupation, and Iraqi constitutionalists and democrats became collaborators. To appease Paris and Berlin, the
Bush administration justified insurgent rhetoric.
Iraqis embraced democracy, but the wrong kind. UN "experts" sold the White House an election system based on
countrywide party slates, rather than on geographic election districts. Any system in which politicians are more
accountable to party leaders than constituents, though, encourages ethnic nationalism and sectarian populism. Add
partisan militias to the mix, and the result is explosive.
Iraqis greeted U.S. troops as liberators, but the Bush administration fumbled the occupation. Blaming democracy does
not address the cause of strife; rather, it absolves policymakers for poor decisions and implementation. Too much is at
stake, not only for Iraq but also for U.S. national security, if policymakers learn the wrong lessons.
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
National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
---------------------------------------
CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY & OTHER POLITICAL REGIMES
Modern Constitutional Democracy:
Fundamental Character & Essential Ingredients
Constitutionalism: The First Essential Ingredient
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
Dr. Michael Rubin, a Ph.D. in History (Yale University) and a specialist in Middle Eastern politics, Islamic culture and Islamist
ideology, is Editor of the Middle East Quarterly and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research. Dr Rubin is author of Into the Shadows: Radical Vigilantes in Khatami's Iran (Washington Institute
for Near East Policy, 2001) and is co-author, with Dr. Patrick Clawson, of Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2005). Dr. Rubin served as political advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad (2003-2004); staff
advisor on Iran and Iraq in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense (2002-2004); visiting lecturer in the Departments of
History and International Relations at Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2001-2002); visiting lecturer at the Universities of
Sulaymani, Salahuddin, and Duhok in Iraqi Kurdistan (2000-2001); Soref Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy (1999-2000); and visiting lecturer in the Department of History at Yale University (1999-2000). He has been a fellow at
the Council of Foreign Relations, the Leonard Davis Institute at Hebrew University, and the Carnegie Council on Ethics and
International Affairs.
The foregoing article by Dr. Rubin was originally published in USA Today, November 27, 2006, 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 27, 2006,
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