Among the casualties of the war in Iraq, the idea that people everywhere wish to savor the blessings of American-style liberal democracy for themselves now appears high on the list. It’s a painful experience for Americans who think everybody else wants to be like them, but it will be more healthy than hurtful in the long run if this bit of wishful thinking bites the dust.
During the last three-plus years the Bush administration has offered various explanations for the war: weapons of mass destruction, the brutality of Saddam Hussein — whatever. But the one explanation it finally settled on as its overarching rationale was the spread of democracy. Create a democratic regime in Iraq, we were told, and other countries in the region would be so thrilled that they'd rush to get on board the democratic bandwagon. Baghdad would be the Mideast's city on a hill.
Unfortunately, things haven't quite turned out like that. Iraqi democracy, propped up by US military force, is a sickly infant with an uncertain future. Nor does it help much that the only indisputably working democracy in that part of the world, Israel, has lately rained bombs on civilian targets in a feeble neighboring democracy, Lebanon.
As for those other countries that were supposed to be impressed by Iraqi democracy (Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia come to mind): they aren't. Instead of displaying democracy's drawing power, the war in Iraq so far has had results like the following:
• The war set the stage for a bitter power struggle between Iraqi factions eager for retaliation, revenge, and dominance. Voices high up in the American military now suggest that, rather than democracy, civil war followed by partition may be Iraq's fate. This is a scenario that was obvious from the start.
• The war emboldened Islamic extremists to go all out to embarrass America and its allies.
• The war showed that although a high-tech but undermanned US army could defeat a mediocre enemy in the field, it apparently has no truly effective way of getting rid of determined terrorists.
• The war provided unpleasant reminders that the Middle East isn't ruled by an unsatisfied longing for democracy but by hatred, religious fanaticism, and a longing to wipe the state of Israel off the face of the earth.
These have been expensive lessons. What comes next?
Sooner or later, one suspects, the terrorists in Iraq will grasp the fact that if they just stop bombing marketplaces and mosques for a while, the Americans will declare victory and head home, either in this administration or more likely the next.
Outfits like Hezbollah and Hamas won't rest content as long as the hated Israelis are there to fight. Unless the US is prepared to go to the sources of the rockets and bombs — confront Iran and Syria, that is — the terrorists are going to keep it up. And going to the sources in another Mideast war is something American public opinion won't swallow now, no matter what diehard neocons might wish.
The ultimate lesson is that, naïve assumptions to the contrary notwithstanding, liberal democracy on the US model just doesn't have the universal appeal that we'd like to think. Appeal, yes; universal, no. Fanaticism, ethnic hostilities, and the desire for revenge count for far more with many.
Yes, democracy is a wonderful thing. Americans should kneel down every night and thank God they've got it. But if the lesson of Iraq makes nothing else clear, it shows that democracy isn't everybody's cup of tea. Forget the pipe dreams. We need to get serious.
Russell Shaw is a freelance writer from Washington, DC. You can email him at RShaw10290@aol.com.
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