Doing democracy right

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Arab rulers have created great cities and citadels throughout their realm. But they have not produced a successfully functioning modern state.

For America to succeed at this, a clear vision must be developed and communicated that fills in details omitted in Condoleezza Rice's recent statements on America's "generational commitment" to Iraq. Here are some thoughts on what that vision should contain:

It should be based on developing a self-governing administration that will initially be involved in and then quickly become wholly responsible for decisions that shape the medium- and long-term future of Iraq. An embryonic national political process is in fact underway in Baghdad. It urgently needs to be encouraged, accelerated and elevated.

From privatizing industry to determining the national standard for a cellular phone system, Iraqis must be visibly and effectively involved now in decisions that they will have to live with long after occupation ends. That unfortunately is not the case nearly four months after major combat ended.

In particular, U.S. involvement in economic decisions in a country conquered by American arms must do more than diminish over time: It must be totally transparent and above reproach. U.S. honor, as well as the effectiveness of the political and cultural transformation effort in Iraq, depend on U.S. officials, politicians and business leaders not misusing positions or influence to create uneven playing fields for themselves, their friends or their clients, or for favored Iraqis.

There must be no giving in to the temptation to play empire or to seek unfair advantage in Iraq. Throughout the 20th century, the United States helped rid the world of colonialism, even though it did not do all it could all the time. It is neither in America's interest nor in its nature to try in the 21st century to establish a neocolonial economic dependency in Iraq.

The administration has already been taken to task for favoring Vice President Cheney's old firm, Halliburton, and giant Bechtel Corp. in initial reconstruction contracts. U.S. and corporate officials deny any favoritism.

And strong pressure for political intervention is likely to be exerted in Congress as constituents press their elected representatives for help in acquiring lucrative pieces of the Iraqi pie. This lobbying, which is much more difficult for critics and the press to follow, is already underway, as shown by a recent, misguided and unsuccessful attempt to restrict a new wireless phone network in Iraq to U.S. standards.

Congressional delegations visiting Baghdad this summer and autumn will find a familiar face on hand to greet them -- Tom Korologos, who recently retired as one of Washington's most effective corporate lobbyists. Korologos was dispatched to Iraq by the Pentagon to help establish and run the beleaguered occupation authority. He will also acquire an unrivaled view of future business opportunities there.

Other countries should be free to share in Iraq's economic opportunities and its burdens. An international conference in October to generate aid pledges for Iraq will usefully illuminate which countries are prepared for both.

But it is illusory to allocate contracts to other countries to lure them into joining a peacekeeping force sponsored by the United Nations or to expect that such a force would be created or effective if American and British troops left, as Bush's critics advocate.

The United Nations enforced economic sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime for a dozen years. Neither Baathist dead-enders nor the lunatic followers of Osama bin Laden and his murdering kind will respect U.N. "blue helmets." Nor is the Iraqi population likely to be as sympathetic to a U.N. command as many of those urging that approach on Bush assume.

Ensuring equal economic opportunity for Iraqis and foreigners alike performs a more fundamental political task: It will reduce or help eliminate the resentments and anxieties against exploitative foreign domination that fed Arab nationalism at its creation at the beginning of the last century.

Political commitment in the Muslim Middle East historically runs first to tribes or to cities, not to nation-states whose boundaries were drawn by colonial fiat. But a feeling of being exploited or cheated would amplify and embitter Iraqi nationalism and make it an enduring counterforce to U.S. objectives in the region, just as Arab nationalism was born out of World War I and colonial occupation.

Bush and Rice see great opportunities. They deserve credit for their idealism and ambition. But they must also keep their eyes on the great dangers in the Middle East that rise not from American weakness but from America's strength and ability to force its will on others.

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