Dale K. Robinson
June 8, 2006
In spite of headlines about alleged atrocities by US Marines at Haditha or car bombings in Baghdad that killed 19, the news out of Iraq is good. The new duly-elected government is in place, as is the prime minister’s cabinet, including the ministers of defense, interior, and national security. That marks a huge milestone in the fledgling democracy’s march toward stability, peace and prosperity. In just over three years after Saddam’s regime of terror fell before US forces, Iraqis have a government of their own, selected by millions of Iraqis who courted death by proudly waving their ink-stained fingers in the air.
Contrast this to the United States.
The American Revolution started with the Declaration of Independence in July 1776 and ended with the surrender of British forces at Yorktown in 1781. The Articles of Confederation, agreed to by Congress in 1777 and not ratified by the states until March 1781 formed the basis of our government at the time, essentially “government by committee.” That committee was Congress, although it looked very different then than it does now.
It wasn’t long before it was apparent that it wasn’t working well. Still, it took time to frame a replacement document. In June 1788, the Articles of Confederation were replaced by the Constitution we know today when New Hampshire ratified the new document. It was nearly a year later before George Washington took the oath of office as our first president. From Declaration of Independence to Washington’s Inauguration took our own fledgling nation almost 14 years! And we didn’t have a home-grown insurgency or foreign terrorists fighting our government at the time.
Jump forward 230 or so years to 2006. Millions of Iraqi voters dared to vote in the face of death threats from terrorists and insurgents who oppose democratic rule there. Proof of their defiance was clear. The ink-stained fingers were hard to hide; indeed, they proudly showed the world their new found freedom. Contrast THAT to the United States, where many of us can not be bothered to stand in line to vote, will let a little inclement weather deter us, won’t go out of our way to exercise our freedom. Yet some Iraqis walked, yes, WALKED, forty miles through the desert for the privilege of voting.
Yes, there’s good news out of Iraq, in spite of sectarian violence, in spite of car bombings, in spite of IEDs and American casualties. Things won’t get better there over night; they may even get worse in the short term. It will take time to get it right, just as it took our nation time. Our nation needs to ensure that they get that time. It’s as important to our security as it is to theirs.
Yes, good news out of Iraq as they mark another milestone toward democracy.
Oh, yeah. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead. Like I said – good news out of Iraq.