CapitalistMarks

The Iraq experiment

Posted on 07. Mar, 2010 by scott in economic daydreaming, political munglings

Today Millions of Iraqis go (have gone by the time I write this)  to the polls.  Of course such an event would have been regarded as pure fiction if mentioned less than a decade ago.  A majority Arab nation holding meaningful democratic elections?  It seems so, and this event is historic if the answer is ye.

In the 2005 election tens of thousands of U.S. military forces ‘guarded’ the nations elections.  Today they rest uneasily in camps far away from city polling stations.  Security now is handled by about 500,000 Iraqi internal security forces.  Still bombs are exploding and grenades fall in the midst of some waiting voters.  Dozens have been killed and many more injured in today’s unjustified violence.  Yet reports indicate that a majority of Iraq’s nearly 20,000,000 voters are risking life and limb to have ‘their’ voice heard in this important election.

This isn’t like any election American’s would find familiar, and not just because of the violence administered by a very small and intolerant/ignorant minority.  Think of more than 62,000 candidates running for 325 parliament seats.  With such numbers it will probably take many months to complete the ‘counts’ and seat a parliament elected by the people.  But the effort is worth it.

I have often called George W. Bush the least competent President in memory.  I still think he will fill pages of history books with tales of his ‘cowboy’ diplomacy and refusal to acknowledge the will of the people . . . likely the worst President ever.  Consider.  More than 4,300 or our neighbors and friends have lost their life in this dry and unwelcoming land.  The financial cost is at or above $1 trillion.  The cost of in terms of America’s loss of international moral superiority could eventually prove to be even higher (Obama must weigh in on this).

Despite all of the above, if Iraq develops into a truly democratic nation that includes the interests of Shia, Sunni and Kurd alike, the eventual toll on our great nation may have been worth it.  That particular social and economic calculation is years from being completed.   America’s Iraq war cost must be measured in the future success of Iraqi democracy and a peaceful and safe Iraq population.

I wonder if once American’s are gone from this country we will be counted as friends or foes?  I wonder if Iraqis will look back on the ten or so years of their horrors during the war and its aftermath as a price well paid.  I wonder if Iraq will rise above the terror and become a nation filled with pride and a desire to be a part of the wider community of free nations?  I wonder if Iraq’s natural resources will be fully developed (some predict that Iraq’s production of oil will go to 10 million barrels/day by 2020 — from the 2 million/day they now have) and used to develop infrastructure that benefits all the people?  I wonder if hospital and schools will replace the thousands of military ‘bases’ that litter the cities and country sides?  I wonder if women will have the same opportunities as men?  Will the majority live in houses with 24/7 electricity and running water?   I really wonder if Iraqis will one day feel both proud and safe?

If the answer to those questions is a resounding yes, say ten years down the road, then I believe we (America and her allies as well as the people of Iraq) will count the heavy price of Iraqi freedom and safety to be worth it.

As this 2nd Iraqi parliamentary election winds down, Americans should remember that it was years after the revolutionary war was won before our constitution and government took its rightful place in history.  We should all hope that Iraq achieves their own greatness in the near future and that this election is a step in that direction.

Today we can only hope.  Tomorrow and the day after, we might be able to help the process along — peacefully.

Thanks to flickr’s cudmore for the photo

Tags: Barack Obama, cost of iraq war, George W. Bush, Iraq democracy, Iraq elections, iraqi voters