What should be done in Iraq?

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis Tuesday April 20, 2004 12:28 by Tyler Durden

What is the solution to this big mess?

What kind of government should there be in Iraq?

Should there be an Islamic state?

Certainly Iraq nor any country in the world shouldn't be ruled by religious authorities.
We have enough experience of such a regime by priest in Ireland ( sexual abuse of children, intolerance of other religions, imprisonment of unmarried mothers and enslavement of orphans in so-called industrila schools).
Islamic fundamentalist government makes Roman Catholic theocracy look like heaven with limb amputation for thieves, stoning for adultrers, death for apostasy etc.

So we can forget about an Islamic state.

Should there be a military dictatorship?

The Iraqis lived under military rule for 30 years under Saddam one of the most barbaric regimes of the twentieth century.
They certianly don't want the U.S. military running their country now and would hardly want U.N. troops ( foreign Arab troops included) doing the same job.
The assassination of the U.N. representative in Iraq should tell you that.

Should there be secular democracy?

Certainly I think since this system works very well in other countries ( South Africa for example)

Two systems of government both state and regional would exist side by side.
A system of judiciary, parliament and executive with separation of powers.
Each region of Iraq would have local elections as well as national elections to elect regional and national parliaments with powers to appoint local judicary and national judicary who could in turn limit the power of the local and national executive. The executive could veto legislation of regional and national parliaments but could be impeached by those parliaments if its power is exceeded. Like wise the judicary could make laws to limit the authority of parliament.
This way government would be accountable.

The directly elected government would appoint the police and army to uphold the law.

There would complete separation of Church and State.

Elections for parliaments and executive positions could be held every four years.

Human rights for women, homosexuals, minority groups both ethnic and religious would be tolerated.
There would be freedom of the press and the right to own private property and many other basic human freedoms from education, to health care and fair trials.

This will take a long time to be brought about.

The last thing that the Iraqis need is the likes of the Baath party ceasing power again or Al-Qeada dictating that an Islamic regime be set up or that Al-Sadr take power and set up a regime allied with the Ayatollahs of Iran.

No fair government of Iraq will survive if these forces are allowed to remain operating in Iraq.
Similiarly no fair governemt would exist if America remained as an occupying force.

Firstly Al-Sadr, Al-Qeada and Baath party remnants will have to be defeated by an international effort and an Iraqi effort.
Unfortunately this will lead to many deaths both civilian and military but i believe ultimately will lead to a true democratic Iraq.

A democratic properous Iraq will fight the emergence of Islamic terror in the middle East and will a good ally for the Palestinians in making a peace deal with Israel.
A new democratic Iraq will spread its influence to other people in the middle East living under Islamic and military dictatorships.

They will need international help but should not be colonised by the U.S. or Russia or china or anybody else.

The future can turn brighter if we have faith in the goodness of human nature.