Iraq: A Democratic Oasis in a Deadly Desert

Fire of Liberty

First thing first, I'd like to offer an enormous congratulations to the newly democratically elected government which was officially formed today. After decades of tyranny and oppression, the Iraqi people can finally begin their Pheonixesque rise and demonstrate how an oasis of democracy can emerge in a desert of tyranny. I wish them a good future and hope their path to democracy continues and has a domino effect in the region like it has in Lebanon. While a lot of people in the media have pointed to the extensive time lapse between the Jan 30, 2005 election and the formation of the government today as an example of the Iraqi democracy project on life support, Amir Taheri begs to differ. According to Taheri's column in yesterday's New York Post, the delay was actually an example of a working democracy in a multi-party parliamentary system like Iraq. During this extensive period, the various parties were sorting out their party leadership, negotiating on the various governmental posts and the formation of a coalition government that respects smaller minorities, all of which is needed to ensure that Iraq starts off on the right path. Here's a sample of what Taheri says has conspired since January 30, 2005:

The last two weeks of February were thus taken up by horse-trading within the United Iraqi Alliance, the principal Shiite bloc backed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

The key issue was the choice of a prime minister.

There were four candidates in the field, representing the four main blocs within the alliance. At one point, all the groups went to Sistani and asked him to choose the prime minister. He refused — because he wanted the new leadership to remain accountable only to the Iraqi electorate.

Once al-Jaafari had been chosen as a compromise candidate for premiership, the fight started over who should fill the other key posts of the new administration, notably the three-man presidential council, the speakership of the parliament, and the key ministries.

THE task was further complicated by the Transition Administration Law (TAL) left behind by Paul Bremer, the American "pasha" who ruled the country until the transfer of power to Premier Iyad Allawi's interim government last June. The TAL requires that all key positions be agreed upon with a two-third majority.

Theoretically, the united Shiite list and its Kurdish counterpart, which together do have a two-third majority in the parliament, could have filled all the posts as they pleased. They decided not to do so because they knew that Iraq's fragile democracy needed the largest possible measure of participation if it is to defeat its armed enemies.

Thus the entire month of March was devoted to negotiations between the leaders of the Shiite and Kurdish lists.

Reaching consensus was not easy. The Kurds insisted to retain a right of veto under any future constitution. They also refused to disband their separate armies, known as the "Peshmerga," despite the fact that they had de facto control over the Defense Ministry. At the same time, the Kurds continued to press their claim to Kirkuk and taking measures to change its ethnic composition to their own advantage.

UNDER other circumstances, any of these issues could have led not only to a breakdown of coalition talks but to civil war. The fact that the worst did not happen is to the credit of Iraq's new pluralist system, in which problems could be resolved through negotiations and compromise rather than fighting and ethnic cleansing.

We can sit hear in the comfort of our homes or in the TV studios or halls of Congress and complain all day about how Iraq is moving too slow in forming a government but we also need to understand that this is an Iraqi decision by Iraqis who know the political plumbing of their country more than we do. You'd have to say that a three month delay is well worth the wait for a nation that lived under Saddam's jack-boot for a generation or more. Remember that the US went some thirteen years until it drafted the Constitution, so a three month wait in Iraq is a miracle. So keep up the good work in Iraq.