Wednesday, February 18, 2004
A Horrible Idea in Iraq
The Shiites and Kurds of Iraq are backing a plan that would allow a partial vote to choose an Iraqi congress by June 30 that would exclude those Iraqis that reside in the 'Sunni Triangle', reports the NYTimes.
This is absolutely ridiculous, for several reasons. One, it disenfranchises a large geographic part of the county to maintain an unrealistic timetable. Does one really think that creating a political government that does not hold as its constituents the part of the country housing and supporting the guerrillas will really decrease the violence? I think Ireland provides a good answer that question.
Two, this will give even more power to the Shiite majority. There will already be enough danger that they will stomp all over the minority groups in Iraq, one doesn't need to tempt them to do so even more by allowing them to begin their political existence as a democracy by disenfranchising their long-time oppressors. This will just set a precedent that mass political exclusion is a legitimate means to various ends. Not a good plan; look at Iran to see the sort of unrest that such tactics may bring about (hopefully more unrest and revolution in the future, in Iran's case).
Three, by proposing this last-ditch plan to keep the transfer of power 'on schedule', the Shiite politicos have shown that they are not interested in creating democracy, but simply interested in obtaining power. This plan will simply give them power, even though they've demonstrated by proposing this plan that they are not interested in a free democracy at all. Democracy must be based on legitimacy, and legitimacy is gained by allowing free and fair elections. A mass exclusion of voters is neither free nor fair.
This plan clearly shows that Iraq is not ready to govern itself (the majority is already considering the minority irrelevant), and that the US must remain and continue to support it until violence subsides and enough order is constructed to allow truly legitimate and stable government to be formed.
This is absolutely ridiculous, for several reasons. One, it disenfranchises a large geographic part of the county to maintain an unrealistic timetable. Does one really think that creating a political government that does not hold as its constituents the part of the country housing and supporting the guerrillas will really decrease the violence? I think Ireland provides a good answer that question.
Two, this will give even more power to the Shiite majority. There will already be enough danger that they will stomp all over the minority groups in Iraq, one doesn't need to tempt them to do so even more by allowing them to begin their political existence as a democracy by disenfranchising their long-time oppressors. This will just set a precedent that mass political exclusion is a legitimate means to various ends. Not a good plan; look at Iran to see the sort of unrest that such tactics may bring about (hopefully more unrest and revolution in the future, in Iran's case).
Three, by proposing this last-ditch plan to keep the transfer of power 'on schedule', the Shiite politicos have shown that they are not interested in creating democracy, but simply interested in obtaining power. This plan will simply give them power, even though they've demonstrated by proposing this plan that they are not interested in a free democracy at all. Democracy must be based on legitimacy, and legitimacy is gained by allowing free and fair elections. A mass exclusion of voters is neither free nor fair.
This plan clearly shows that Iraq is not ready to govern itself (the majority is already considering the minority irrelevant), and that the US must remain and continue to support it until violence subsides and enough order is constructed to allow truly legitimate and stable government to be formed.
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