Thursday, May 06, 2004
If We Leave Before Our Time
In an otherwise excellent editorial on the need to radically reform and regroup in Iraq if we are not to be thrown out, Thomas Friedman (NYT Op-Ed, May 6) writes that if "we quit Iraq, it will then become Afghanistan-on-steroids, which will threaten everyone." Assuming that he means that Iraq would inevitably be transformed into a powerful al-Qaeda-Taliban base of operations, this is another example of that very American arrogance that Friedman so often deplores.
It is true that a truly democratic Iraq under our tutelage would be good for Iraqis and good for America. But this does not mean that without our presence Iraqis cannot transform their country into a functioning society with far more respect for human rights than there was under Hussein. In spite of the "evil elements" that confront us now, Iraq has a large, relatively well-educated secular middle class, powerful and moderate shi'a leaders, and a functioning Kurdish enclave in the north. Events in Falluja suggest that out exit might lead to a resurrection of Iraq's army and the establishment of a nationalistic military regime. It might lead to a religiously oriented regime, with considerable power in the hands of the Ayatollahs. The final result might be federalist or highly centralized. Whatever the final outcome, there is certainly no inevitability in its becoming a terrorist base threatening American and European interests.
In an otherwise excellent editorial on the need to radically reform and regroup in Iraq if we are not to be thrown out, Thomas Friedman (NYT Op-Ed, May 6) writes that if "we quit Iraq, it will then become Afghanistan-on-steroids, which will threaten everyone." Assuming that he means that Iraq would inevitably be transformed into a powerful al-Qaeda-Taliban base of operations, this is another example of that very American arrogance that Friedman so often deplores.
It is true that a truly democratic Iraq under our tutelage would be good for Iraqis and good for America. But this does not mean that without our presence Iraqis cannot transform their country into a functioning society with far more respect for human rights than there was under Hussein. In spite of the "evil elements" that confront us now, Iraq has a large, relatively well-educated secular middle class, powerful and moderate shi'a leaders, and a functioning Kurdish enclave in the north. Events in Falluja suggest that out exit might lead to a resurrection of Iraq's army and the establishment of a nationalistic military regime. It might lead to a religiously oriented regime, with considerable power in the hands of the Ayatollahs. The final result might be federalist or highly centralized. Whatever the final outcome, there is certainly no inevitability in its becoming a terrorist base threatening American and European interests.
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