Free Iraq

Now that the Statue has Fallen and the military is either scattered, destroyed, or gathered in Tikrit, the remaining coalition duties are mopping up the irregular resistence, providing basic police duties, and clearing the way for civilian administration and aid workers. They may be doing some searching for weapons of mass destruction, but the war is essentially finished. Of course, we'll continue to search for Saddam Hussein, but he becomes more and more of a useful intelligence capture and propaganda device than anything else.

So this leaves us at the crucial juncture of a temporary military/civilian government imposed by the US. Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Jay Garner appears to most likely be the "interim transitional civil administrator." I was wrong when I believed Tommy Franks would be the guy in day-to-day charge.

I wish I could see what the Bush blueprint is. I can say that having him make it and implement it makes me feel somewhat better than the other major Presidential contenders from three years ago. He'll put much more emphasis on a limited government and keep the UN out of the political rebuilding process. But Bush and his administration are far from ideal, their many lapses into collectivism and government intervention demonstrating this clearly.

I trust Bush to help create a country that may turn out to be as "free" as Israel and indeed achieving that level of success (relative to the other nations in the area), would be highly admirable. However, as I hear the news about this effort, I can help but wonder what compromises are being made, what deals are being cut to immoral Iraqis to keep them in power, and just how watered down individual rights will be in the country.

The ideal would be a state that exceeds the level of liberty Americans enjoy. The more likely, I believe, is something like on the order of the UK's, Canada's, or Australia's government: very much free when compared to 70% of the world, but certainly not free from philosophical contradictions and statism.

But the truely tragic thing would be if we focused too much on "democracy" and allowed the people of Iraq to vote their rights away.

Q: Is the United States willing to accept anything other than a Western style democracy and a capitalistic economy for Iraq?

Senior Defense Official: I think what the United States is willing to accept -- this me talking now -- is any government that expresses the -- any elected government that expresses the will of the people.

Q: That would include an Islamic-based government?

Senior Defense Official: Well, it's an Islamic country, right.

That link provides a better-than-usual glimpse into what the administration is thinking. It's good, but it could be better.

Posted by Drizzten at April 11, 2003 07:28 AM