He Was Kidding

19 January 2004


Bush's Iraq Sovereignty Plan Hits Snag -- Democracy

It must be hard to be a liberator. Marching into an oppressed land, promising freedom, democracy and wealth, and then being expected to deliver. Everything was going so well for Mr. Bush in Iraq, things on target for handing the country over to America's friends there in a few months. And then someone in Iraq (a Shi'ite cleric) suggested that the people actually should vote on their government and knocked American policy to the ground.

The plan had been for the US to appoint a transitional government to take power in June, and for that government to arrange elections. But this would only happen after enough time has passed for the democratic forces in that country to sort themselves out. The White House wanted to avoid any appearance of America doing the job of running Iraqi elections because, well, look at how well things went in Florida in 2000 when Americans were in charge of the election.

However, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, the top Shi'ite there, said not good enough. Democracy now is a very hard call to resist, and that was the call he made (and can create a boycott with a single fatwa). So, America's Proconsul Paul Bremer flew back to Washington to explain to the American Caesar why the province of Further Arabia is being so difficult. (He might suggest that this is what happens when a nation goes to war without knowing how to win the peace).

What Mr. Bush cannot do is change the time table. He needs the US to hand the country over to and Iraqi authority before his own November election. At the same time, he can't say Iraqis can't vote because they aren't ready (how very "white man's burden" that sounds). Cutting the Gordian Knot here will be the measure of the administration's deftness.

Unlike Alexander of Macedon, George of Crawford (Texas) needs help. Free of charge, here it is. Keep the date, keep the interim government, and hold elections under American supervision for a second chamber. Let the UN observe. Swear in the second chamber the day the US gives Iraq its sovereignty. Then, declare victory and get out. One doubts Mr. Bush will find this solution, but it is a solution. Then again, if he had sent enough troops in the first place, it wouldn't be an issue because the American authorities could command rather than consult.

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