A tale of a political abortion

[mahnmut]

Why cannot every former dictatorship become a democracy? Even when its birth is being assisted by powerful democracies? The story of such a failure began exactly 10 years ago in a country that hasn't stopped bleeding ever since.

Comments

[underlankers]

Maliki has three advantages, one of which he shares with Saddam (a friendly neighborhood totalitarian dictatorship willing to prop his regime up for obvious reasons), and two of which he does not. The first is that he is an explicitly sectarian leader, and the second is that he's a sectarian with the backing of the largest single chunk of the Iraqi population, where Saddam had a minority of a minority backing him. A strongman of the Shia sect will be capable of far more damage than Saddam ever was as far as brutality is concerned. The Tyranny of the Majority, after all, can be far harder to dislodge than that of the Minority.

[abomvubuso]

It's been curious to observe the new US approach to the conflict in Syria. It seems America realises that it can't be solved through negotiation; but meanwhile they don't want to get sucked into another war. Or to look for WMDs that may or may not exist. The memory of Iraq is just too fresh.

[unnamed525]

You seem to be making the presupposition that the US is a democracy in anything more than name only.

[mahnmut]

I wanted to be polite this time, for a change. :-P

[american_geist]

Same reason the French Revolution failed, and the same reason Egypt will probably fail, dictatorships lack institutions from which democracy can root itself after the revolution.

[underlankers]

I'm not so sure that the French Revolution did fail in the way it's usually stated to have done. It's not like there was much difference morally between Napoleon Bonaparte and Robespierre and the Jacobins as far as the average peasant was concerned. Both were just as keen on mass slaughter, in different ways. Now Iraq has exchanged a tyranny of a minority for that of a majority, which is going to be interesting in the Chinese sense. If Maliki plays his cards right, he may have a more powerful despotism than Saddam could have ever dreamed of.

[sophia_sadek]

Thomas Jefferson blamed Marie Antoinette for the failure of the French Revolution. He cited her for vetoing republican reforms that had been agreed to by the crown. Apparently the reforms would have deprived her of gaming funds. Gambling addicts do not act rationally. It is too bad that her husband was too weak to stand up to her.

[sophia_sadek]

While we consider the political repression of the Kurdish population under Saddam Hussein, it would be a good idea to recognize the role that the US and Ahmed Chalabi played in that long beleaguered region. It was a used as a base for both Chalabi and clandestine CIA infiltration of Iraq. The operation at Dora Farm was based in Kurdish territory. The CIA also had eyes on Zarqawi's fortress in the region. The Kurds were used as pawns of American hegemony in the region. It was not a good thing to do to them.

As for exporting democracy, a nation that has yet to experience democracy cannot be expected to export it anywhere else.