Idealists in Hawks' Clothing
Stephen Pollard, my favorite British left wing neocon (really!) and proprietor of one of the best weblogs around, has a good piece in today's Independent on what to many is a counter-intuitive squabble: that between the pro-democracy Pentagon and the pro-satrapy State Dept.:
The caricature view, peddled by many Europeans, is that the State Department, headed by Colin Powell Ð the man Europe can do business with Ð is a force for moderation and sanity against those nasty, trigger-happy neo-conservatives centred around the Pentagon. Most caricatures have a basis in fact. This fashionable European view is thus unique, since it is the Pentagon which is on the side of democracy and self-government for Iraq, and the State Department which wants to see Iraq run as something approaching a US colony...Posted by Dr. Frank at April 3, 2003 08:33 AM | TrackBackThe dispute as to the shape of post-war Iraq is, in another form, the same battle that was fought between the "realists" during the Cold War, who argued that dŽtente and engagement was the only sensible policy towards the Soviet Union; and those who rightly believed that it was a war which could be won. This is a battle between the cynicism which so often characterises foreign and defence policy, and the idealism which is the only way the world can be changed for the better.
The omens are not good. President Bush is speaking the language of democracy, but the State Department has been making the running. Zalmay Khalilzad, President Bush's envoy to the Iraqi opposition, is reported as having decided that federalism Ð democracy Ð is too risky, and that the only realistic way forward is simply to replace the top three Baathist officials in each ministry with US officers "advised" by Iraqis.
This would be a disaster. It would give credence to all the arguments about this being an imperialist war, and would antagonise the rest of the Arab world Ð to put it mildly. Colin Powell is, I am told, in favour of a swift transfer to the UN. But other than for PR purposes Ð as a way of selling the situation to the rest of the world Ð whether it is the US or the UN which is in charge is almost irrelevant. The important point is not which power operates a centrally administered Iraq but whether that model is the right model for Iraq.
Removing Saddam is a good thing in itself, and had to be done. The Iraqis will certainly be better off without him. But failing to follow through by sowing the seeds for a properly democratic Iraq would not merely be a wasted opportunity; it would be a betrayal of the purpose of this war Ð and of the people of Iraq.