What to you think will happen in Iraq after the US leaves? Democracy or Muslim extremism?
tamarah tanksley asked:
In Iraq the US is making great sacrifices in soldiers’ lives and spending billions of $ in order to bring it democracy.
In Iraq the US is making great sacrifices in soldiers’ lives and spending billions of $ in order to bring it democracy.
Do you think democracy will survive there after the US leaves, or will it soon degrade to Muslim fundamentalism ?
Waylon Dozer
Tags: Billions, Muslim Extremism
Iraq was a Democracy before Bush’s illegal war.
Democracy no more Dictator
We’ll sunni see!
I hope things don’t go to shi’ite!
Iraq will go back to being some kind of dictatorshp just like all the other countries in that part of the world.
A Republic cannot work in a nation with poor infrastructure, inefficient education and violent ethnic and religious conflicts. This is even more true in Afghanistan, where Warlords still call the shots. A Republic cannot work in Afghanistan due to poor education, infrastructure and tribal customs. They quite frankly, don’t want it.
One size fits all does not work with governments.
Feudalism owes a lot of it’s fall to the dissemination of the Printing Press, which took down the monopoly of Literacy held by the Church and Nobility. Another factor was the improved road systems and other such infrastructure, which allowed for a more centralized government. As this improved even more, and journey that took weeks now took only a couple of days, voting became possible in national affairs, though it was still a slow process and didn’t fully catch on until after the end of the Napoleonic Era.
There are reasons Republics cannot always work, and why they today cannot work in certain regions of the world.
Swift communication possible with an efficient infrastructure and a literate population are the two necessary ingredients of a Republic.
I think Iraq is more likely to end up exactly they way they were before….. maybe not with the Sunni group in charge, but similar to that.
They are too factionalized ethically and ethnically with centuries old hatreds and a religion and religious leaders that will not let them function together to ever have anything approaching a republic or a democracy.
All Knowing One, you don’t know squat. Iraq was not a democracy it was a dictatorship where Saddam controlled everything.
To answer the question, it will fall apart. Those people under Saddam have only known corruption to survive. Saddam tried to murder off the Shia and the Kurds, there are hurt feelings there and they want revenge. If we pull out the Sunni minority will be slaughtered.
While Saddam was a Sunni, he was non-secular in his ruling of the country. He didn’t allow honor killings and we have seen an increase since he was removed from power, but on the bright side, his sons aren’t going around the country kidnapping young girls and raping them any more. Also, under Saddam people were randomly picked up and tortured for just about any infraction. I met a man there that was in the Army under Saddam and was walking down the hall when a picture of Saddam fell off the wall, he was imprisoned and tortured for 6 months. The people had no power or running water because it all went to serve his many palaces. We have been building the infrastructure for the people to have that. The first time I went to Iraq the people slept in holes they dug in the ground to keep cool in the summer. We have also built schools and medical clinics and provided them with the tools they need to be successful.
So while it will erupt, I think that they are better without Saddam and we have done many great things there that no one ever hears about. I can only hope that by the time be finally leave, attitudes towards the different sects will change and they will put Iraq before their hatred of each other.
Democracy cannot be imposed from the top down… It must spring up from the grass roots. When the population of Iraq started organizing local elections and started the process of creating a democracy Bremmer put a stop to it… This alone makes it clear that the US is not there to export democracy!
Of course we should not forget Iraq was a democratic republic, Until the US CIA backed the Bathists coop
I have every faith the Iraqi people can work this out for themselves. The US is only standing in the way.