[Mb-civic] ROBERT SCHEER Now, U.S. Must Get Out of Iraq's Way

[Michael Butler]

latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-scheer1feb01.story
ROBERT SCHEER
Now, U.S. Must Get Out of Iraq's Way
After the excellent election news, it's time for Bush to plan a pullout.
Robert Scheer

February 1, 2005

The election in Iraq, though flawed, is terrific news. Any time a people get
to use the ballot box instead of guns to make history, they, and the rest of
the world, benefit immensely.

That more than 60% of those eligible are estimated to have voted despite the
dreadful conditions in war-torn Iraq is a testament to the enormous courage
humans so often display under extreme duress.

It appears, too, that the election will be something of a rebuke to those
who preach a toxic blend of fundamentalism and nihilist violence, as was the
case in last month's Palestinian election. But the test now, in both
occupied regions, is whether the will of the voters will be allowed to be
more than a symbolic gesture.

It is hard to imagine how the Kurdish and Shiite parties are going to
finesse the fact that the Sunni religious minority that ruled Iraq off and
on for centuries largely boycotted the election.

Yet, if the newly elected leaders can smartly wield real democratic power
for the common good, it could be a major step toward a stable and legitimate
Iraq. It would be hopelessly naive, however, to believe that the agenda of
those elected will mesh smoothly with that of the occupiers, or do much to
dampen the insurgency.

Very preliminary reports indicate that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani's United
Iraqi Alliance may have garnered a majority of the votes cast. This empowers
the Iranian-born and Tehran-backed Shiite religious and political leader,
who has been very firm on wanting an accelerated timeline for a U.S.
withdrawal. And an Abu Dhabi TV/Zogby poll conducted two days before the
election makes clear that he speaks for the citizenry on this: About 82% of
Sunnis and 69% of Shiites want the U.S. military to leave "either
immediately or after an elected government is in place."

One can quibble as to how fast they want that to happen, but there can be no
doubt that the Iraqi election results are a historic victory for a posture
of self-determination rather than subservience. Make no mistake: A clear
victory for Sistani does not fit the White House neoconservatives' blueprint
for creating a more pliable Middle East.

To be sure, President Bush did the right thing in pushing through the
election, because the Sunni insurgency is not going to fade away as long as
it can feed off the occupation's presence. But this positive moment will
blow up in his face if it proves to be nothing more than a co-optation of
the Iraqi people's strongly felt desire for self-rule. For the United
States, acting in good faith is essential at this point. This past weekend,
the nation took another embarrassing hit when the BBC reported that the
United States' own auditors had found that nearly half of all oil revenues
generated since the invasion cannot be accounted for ‹ an astonishing $8.8
billion.

Iraqi voters risked their lives, and they deserve far more than a facade of
democracy or a puppet strongman acting as the United States' "muscle" in the
region, as Saddam Hussein did for so many years. They need to be given
democratic and transparent control of their oil, their economy and their
security. The election should also be the occasion for beginning the
withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign forces.

To be clear, this does not mean abandoning the responsibilities the U.S. has
taken on by crushing Iraq through two invasions and a decade of sanctions.
We should make sure Iraq's international debt is absolved and its
infrastructure repaired, which will take billions of dollars and many years.
But if we are asked to leave, we must do so, or expose all the talk of
"liberation" as just so much Great Power rhetoric.

Unfortunately, despite our own democratic tradition, we have not
historically been very supportive when weaker nations make their own history
through the ballot box; we thrashed elected leaders in South Vietnam, Iran,
Chile, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Venezuela, Haiti and other nations. Yet, if we
are to believe in the vision promoted so eloquently by this nation's
founding fathers ‹ and I passionately do ‹ the only real hope for Iraq is
self-determination with the good-faith support of the international
community.

No matter what happens, it is going to be a long and messy process. Iraq and
the Middle East have been frozen politically for too long. It will only be
made worse, however, if the United States can't learn how to get out of the
way.

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