Iraq Finally Forms a Government

More than five months after the December elections, the elected officials in Iraq have finally formed a government, sort of. It's missing a permanent Defense Minister and a permanent Interior Minister, and there isn't any elected opposition. Still, there is finally an elected, constitutional authority in Iraq. Now, the question is whether Iraqis think it is worth fighting, killing and dying to protect.

There is, of course, no way to cast this as anything but good news for all concerned. Iraq as a self-governing nation is better than Iraq as an occupied territory. The Saddamite regime has been replaced with something that appears to enjoy the support of the people in Iraq. After literally years of bungled occupation, there is finally a leadership in Iraq that can claim legitimacy.

That does not, however, change the fact that the cause for the war was non-existent weapons of mass destruction, nor does it change the fact that Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with the Al Qaeda murders of September 11, 2001, nor does it alter the fact that Usama bin Laden remains at large because a huge proportion of US troops were misdeployed into Iraq rather than the Afghan-Pakistan border where he is almost certainly hiding.

In addition, the naming of this partial cabinet doesn't change the fact that the country remains occupied and divided internally. Part of the argument over who gets to be Defense Minister and Interior Minister stems from the fact that the army and police are controlled from those desks. As Mao said, power comes out of the barrel of a gun, and in Iraq, it comes from nothing else. The Defense and Interior Ministers will be the most powerful men in the country – the PM is effectively a figurehead, and an honorable mention goes to the oil minister because he will control the money to pay the troops.

The endlessly repeated statement “the next six months in Iraq are crucial” is finally true. In the next half year, either there will be visible proof that the government enjoys the support of the people, or this government will be under siege by the militias that, so far, control the nation. Regardless of the situation, the occupying forces will have to begin withdrawing. There is no point in protecting a government that the people resist, and there is no need to support a government that the people support. By January, the world will know whether the situation has been saved or not. However, keeping foreign troops in Mesopotamia into 2007 will not change failure into success -- although it might encourage a failed Iraqi government to fight to the last American for its survival.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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