| What Gratitude? |
28 April 2003
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Voting a Straight Shia Ticket
The Iraqi city of Karbala saw a pilgrimage last week that had been banned by the Saddam-ite regime for about 33 years. An estimated 1.3 million people marched to the tomb of the martyred grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, Peace Be Unto Him, and bloodied themselves in a sacred fit of self-mutilation. The last thing the West wants is for these people to start voting.
Having freed Iraqi Shi'ites from the Ba'athist fascism they have suffered under, the US was surprised when this pilgrimage exposed a solid and flourishing anti-Americanism. Gratitude, of course, does not exist in international politics. These people hold a contempt for modernity that goes to the bone. To say so is not racist nor bigoted, it is merely accepting their stated beliefs at face value. They may not hate the west as human beings, but they do hate the western lifestyle, which they believe to be immoral and contrary to the will of the one true God.
As a majority of the population in Iraq, these are the people who will decide in a democratic election the fate of the country. Few would wager them to select a Jefferson or Adams. Moreover, the Kurds and the Sunni Arabs are not going to be happy to trade the oppression of Ba'athism for the oppression of the Shiacracy.
The way out, of course, is to prevent the Shia vote from becoming all-powerful. A confederation of subnations is preferable to a unified Iraq, and American policy must ensure that this happens. Having used war to rid the country of one dictator, it would be irresponsible to let another one take over merely because of his religious robes and the votes of religious reactionaries.
America must articulate, in future, what it wants. America does not need democracy for other nations as much as liberty for individuals. The tyranny of the majority must be tempered by a respect for each member of society, otherwise it is merely an inefficient form or oppression. Any group that will cut its members' scalps to show remorse over a religious battle a thousand years in the past is unlikely to have that respect.