From Green To Yellow: Is It Time To Reconsider Iraq?

When is it time to reconsider how we implement our foreign policy in Iraq? That question probably troubles more Americans than any other, as we face the mid term elections in November and the general election in 2008.

To fully understand the realities in Iraq, we need to understand reality in general.

The Bush administration policy of of wanting to bring democracy to the Middle East is a good one. There is no rational argument against that policy, period. To base criticism of the President on his belief that peoples living under tyrannies would not be better off in the long run, under free governments, is absurd. Those who espouse such views are essentially irrelevant to any discussion.

That said, it is clear that we need to revisit the plans of this administration's implementation of policies that would free those under the boot of oppression (It bears remembering those very same policies were a part of every post WWII administration. The war in Vietnam, for example, was a Democrat Party extension of that vision).

This administration presumed the liberation of Iraq would be welcomed by most Iraqis, as was the liberation of Eastern Europe from the stranglehold of the Soviet Union's imposed communism. In a way, they were right, of course.

It is plainly clear that the vast majority of Iraqis are delighted to be rid of Saddam. While they turned out by the millions to cast ballots in a free and fair election, it is also plainly clear that their commitment to democracy is less in evidence. Voting is one thing-actually building and maintaining the institutions that are the pillars of democratic societies, is quiet another. The Iraqis are sitting on the fence, waiting for the outcome of the war between the terrorists and Coalition forces. Therein lies the problem.

The Americans and coalition forces will eventually win. It will be dirty, messy and uncoordinated- because we are fighting terrorists and not 'insurgents,' as tthe media likes to imply. Insurgents fight for a nation, a people and to establish a regime that might be recognized by the international community. These terrorists do not regard their political ideologies as primaryconsiderations . For them, it is about power and nothing else. That power might be draped in religious garb, but in fact, there is no pretense of political respectability. There are no 'representatives' at the UN, claiming to represent the people of Iraq and there are no examples of the terrorists in Iraq that offer to help anyone. They are not rallying people to their cause or orchestrating mass demonstrations to bring attention to their cause. There are no dramatic and sympathetic leaders paraded in front of willing cameras and their are no legions of 'spin doctors' appearing on FNC or CNN. There are no discernible liberation movements- only movements that openly proclaim their love of Islam and their love for death (most often directed at otherMuslims).

Terror in Iraq is about the exercise of brute power and nothing else.

The terrorists are blowing up Iraqis by the hundreds. They are not, for the most part, targeting American, British or coalition troops. There is an orgy of death, as suicide bombers make no distinction between American or coalition forces, Iraq police or the elderly and children. Houses of worship are attacked regularly (with worshipper inside) and market places, filled with women and children, are favored by suicide bombers, plying their evil.

In other words, the terrorists in Iraq make Kim Jung Il look good. He at least offers the pretense about caring for his people. The terrorists in Iraq, their supporters and the Arab world as a whole, cannot even be bothered. As far as they are concerned, the Iraqi people can rot in hell. That sentiment remains below the surface of course, because it is after all, the Kaffirs, are providing the Iraqis with many of the essentials they need to survive. If and when the Kaffirs leave, the Iraqis will be at the mercy of those who don't give a damn.

Instead there is a kind of frenzied carnival of death, seemingly never ending, duly appearing in every news cycle. There are the relentless and pointless bombings and there is burning of men, women and children by faceless killers- virtually all non Iraqis. All the while, many in the Arab world cheer, or, if they are more discreet, celebrate privately. As Iraq is being bled to death, many Arabs are taking to the dance floor once more, reenacting the 9/11 dance. In much of the Arab and Muslim world, suicide bombers are celebrated- even the ones that kill children. Those suicide bombers have become the equivalent of the Hip Hop community here- spokespeople for a generation.

It is a fact that Iraqis are dying are dying at the hands of these terrorists by the thousands, but in truth, they are not heroes or martyrs. They are in fact, victims of their own fear and inertia. The Iraqis cannot expect that America or the coalition will purchase their freedom with American or coalition blood.

We have often repeated that 'Democracies are built on the blood of patriots.'

There are Iraqis that know where some of these terrorists are. They know where they live and they know by the foreign accents, who comes from a different place. The Iraqis must stand up for themselves and for democracy, if they are to be worthy of those things. We are there to help them. We are not there to do for them what they must do for themselves.

That the terrorists in Iraq are openly supported by the Palestinians should come as no surprise. After all, the terror in Iraq is patterned after Palestinian violence- random suicide bombings, targeting children, women and religious minorities as a matter of policy and with regularity. The Iraqis have a choice- they can be a democracy or they can be under the thumb of terrorists and other assorted dysfunctionals.

By their actions- or lack thereof- Iraqis will in the end, clearly define themselves and the kind of nation they want for themselves. If they will not act in their own best interests, we cannot force democracy where it is clearly not valued.

If democracy is of little value to the Iraqis, we need to leave. That will result in tragedy and great suffering, of course, but the blood of Americans and coalition forces cannot continue to be used to purchase democracy for Iraq.

The people of Eastern Europe did not need to be convinced of the merits of free societies over tyrannies. We must be prepared to face the reality that much of the Arab world will remain backward for a very long time, incapable of understanding how free governments are always better than oppressive ones. While there is nothing we can do about that, we can hope that the next generation, or the one after that, will see more clearly.

The tragedy is that yet another generation of Arabs will be lost to dysfunction and neglect. The greater tragedy is that most of them don't even know it. That said, we must always remind them that America and the free world will be there for them when they call.