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Posted on 04/13/2003 7:08:30 AM PDT by mountaineer
As leaders from nations around the globe begin to ponder the type of government post-war Iraq will enjoy, in an interview with the Sunday News-Register, U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., expressed hesitation regarding the possibility of a viable form of a democratic political structure in postwar Iraq.
"The idea of democracy in Iraq is a pipe dream," he said. "Iraq has never been a democracy. One of America's problems is that we are focusing on Saddam and not what is the country of Iraq. We tend to focus on individuals."
To Rockefeller and others in the federal government, the goal of stabilization and normalization is more achievable and far more urgent to the welfare of the Iraqi people. Following regime change, the office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance will be responsible in the initial phases for helping Iraqis restore the delivery of essential services like water, basic medical care and electricity.
If a democracy succeeded in Iraq, it would be a 20-30 year process, Rockefeller said. "(Democracy) is not desirable at this point. The (Iraqi) people are not ready for a democracy."
It will be difficult to win the trust of the Iraqi people after the war. By and large, civilian Iraqis live a tribal existence, Rockefeller said. A mistrust, at least on the parts of the Shiite Muslims in the south of the country, began to flourish during the first Gulf War.
"The Shiites are very slow to respond," Rockefeller said. "(President George H.W.) Bush encouraged them to rebel against Saddam back in 1991 and we just walked away. They were slaughtered."
The Shiites and other tribal factions of the Iraqi civilian population are living in a "very competitive environment," Rockefeller said.
"Most of them are just trying to eke out an existence of poverty," he said. "That kind of existence doesn't breed well for democratic behavior."
President George W. Bush and Biritish Prime Minister Tony Blair had a 20-hour visit in Belfast, Northern Ireland, last week to discuss the future of an Iraq without Saddam. One of the objectives is the introduction of a democratic state.
"I really don't know how much (Bush) knows about the country," Rockefeller said. "I've read books on it and otherwise researched it. I think that's pretty much what youhave to do to begin to understand a culture. It's not just a question of where your tanks go."
Democracy would likely clash with an Islamic state, Rockefeller speculated. Most of the Middle East is under a "top-down" political structure. Saudi Arabia is a monarchy. Qatar is the only country in the Middle East making a valid "go" at a democratic state, due to an "extremely enlightened Sheikh and his wife," Rockefeller said.
"Even Kuwait is a very top-down style of government," he said. "The grassroots of the country is tribal in the same sense as those in Iraq.
"These (Middle Eastern) people are largely nomadic - moving about the desert. They really have no particular sense of 'nation' or 'state.'"
The proposed introduction of democracy in the Iraqi political structure will be "very slow, precarious and may not even take place," Rockefeller said. "Wealth in, say, Saudi Arabia is held by the royal family. This causes street discontent. Thirty percent of the population is unemployed and the median age is 25. Two factors that make people susceptible to radical thinking, so you get the madrasas and jihadism."
Normalization is going to be a very important step for the Iraqi people. "They've got to taste that first," the senator said. "(In the 1920s) the Brits tried to give them a legislature; just hand it to them British-style. It didn't work at all."
.... Iraq was formed in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles that essentially ended World War I. The ports of Kuwait City and Umm Qasr were established to protect Iraqi oil reserves, second most abundant in the world, from British and French interests.
"They had a pretty cunical operation going on," Rockefeller said, "and there hasn't been much reason for them to change their minds since."
The senator thought it would be a full genreation or two for the United States to get back into good relations with the Islamic culture of Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. The U.S. military presence in post-war Iraq can't be seen as any kind of colonization, he said.
The land and territory disputes between the different Islamic sects have been going on for hundreds of years. One of the reasons ithe Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the region dispute is due to an old question of how the succession to the prophet Muhammed would take place.
"There was one group who wanted a linear progression," Rockefeller said. "The other thought it should be done by a communal family agreement or consensus. They've been fighting ever since."
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In an interview with another West Virginia newspaper, the New York billionaire senator who purports to represent the Mountain State said he didn't know who should administer Iraq after the war - not the U.N., not NATO, not Iraqi exiles. He's just full of good ideas.
Maybe WV needs a regime change. But can they handle it?
Clearly, we need to rethink our immigration policies across the Western world. If the Muslims can't run Baghdad, why does anyone think that they'll be able to run London?
We could, easily, but most people here think they can't. Last year Rockefeller crushed his opponent 70-30 without even having to show up.
No wonder they want America dis-armed, indoctrinated , and permanently tangled in an inescapable web of cradle to grave socialism.
Dumbass, would it make you feel better if everything was the same and the people of Iraq were still being torture-murdered by Saddam's regime?
"I really don't know how much (Bush) knows about the country," Rockefeller said. "I've read books on it and otherwise researched it. I think that's pretty much what you have to do to begin to understand a culture. It's not just a question of where your tanks go."
Rockefeller's read books, while the president hasn't bothered to educate himself one iota, in JDR's estimation. He's so condescending.
Are the Iraqis really nomadic these days, or is Rocky reading from his schoolboy books, when they still roamed the desert on camels? They seem pretty well established in urban areas, from what I've seen.
I've never been to West Virginia, but I have done research, consisting of watching several episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies.
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