STUMBLING TOWARDS DEMOCRACY


So, now Iraq has an interim constitution, continuing its stumbling progress towards democracy. For most of the post-war period, I have heard liberals state with certainty that Iraq is an unmitigated disaster. But despite all of the mistakes made, all of the corners cut, all of the zigging and zagging and the best efforts of ex-Baathists and jihadis alike, the project keeps moving forward.


In the months leading up to the war, one of the most popular books among hawks in the Bush Administration was John Dower's Embracing Defeat, which tells the story of the U.S. occupation of Japan. When this fact was reported, Dower himself wrote to emphatically state that the postwar Japan was not analagous to Iraq - and that both context and culture would make a U.S. imposed democratization of Iraq far more difficult to accomplish.


I must respectfully disagree with Dower about the implications of his work (an admittedly hubristic act.) As told in Embracing Defeat, the democratization of post-war Japan was despite its success, extraordinarily messy. Policies were designed by idealogues with little knowledge of Japaneese history or culture. Amnesty policy varied radically over the time. The occupation authorites were often contradictory in their policies. And yet, despite all the mistakes made - the project suceeded. The underlying commitment and vision of American policy-makers, combined with the fundamental desire for democracy that existed even among the supposedly collectivist Japaneese people prevailed.


In Iraq as well, one can see the universal thirst for democracy and freedom and the force of the policy-makers vision pushing the project forward. The pitfalls are great, and the collective weight of all of the errors made may eventually cause the project to collapse - but so far it has not. And so, when I hear the war's skeptics profess that this or that tragic event shows that Iraqi democracy is doomed, I am skeptical of the skeptics - that is to say, still hopeful for success in this noble endeavor.