Challenging a Sacred Cow

Excuse me while I put on my flak jacket. For many the touting of democracy as the best system of governance — indeed, the only form — has become almost a religion. Democracy, they say, means freedom, choice, justice and prosperity. It’s the cure of all ills; a political holy grail, an ideal to which we should all aspire. George Bush says the US has never been threatened by a democracy, so that’s all right then. Sounds good, doesn’t it? There is just one slight problem, though. Does a “by the people, for the people” utopia actually exist? The majority of Iraqis appear to think it might, judging from their excitement at voting for the very first time in their lives. They’ve been promised democracy and, sure enough, they were handed a piece of paper to tick and stuff into a ballot box. The truth is very different. Iraq is occupied. The occupiers have no timeline for moving out and any Iraqi government will have to defer to the US for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, residents of Sunni areas were either intimidated by insurgents not to vote or refrained from doing so due to their suspicions the exercise was little more than a sham to make the Americans look good. The litmus test will come if and when the new government asks the occupiers to leave, and refuses the idea of permanent US military bases. There is a lot more to democracy than the ballot including a free press, an independent judiciary, the sanctity of human rights and civil liberties, backed up by stable institutions. Iraq currently possesses none of these prerequisites.