That the Arab, with his strangely subtle mind--a being so vain, so given to exaggerate, and so susceptible to propaganda, in spite of the fact that he is credited with believing only what he sees--is extremely difficult for a European to understand, will probably be admitted even by those who know him best. One of them, an Arab of Arabs, Ibn Saud, Sultan of Najd, in a letter which I read some time ago and noted, remarked, "As regards the tribal leaders and notables of Iraq from whom you want the improvement of the country, they do not wish that the people of Iraq should be quiet, and that there should be law and order in the land. It is impossible to change their nature, as this has been their policy of old and continues so to-day. Their whole idea in life is to stir up the people in order to gain profit from the Government. It may be accepted as an incontrovertible fact that it will be impossible to manage the people of that country except by strong measures and military force. Never forget that the feelings which animate them are expressed in the saying, "He who even dips his pen in an inkstand on behalf of a Christian, that man becomes a Kafir.' "
The writer of this letter may possibly be prejudiced in some degree, but his words contain much that will be admitted to be true.
The future of Iraq is not a matter easy to foresee, and apart from my ignorance of Arabic, my experience of the country is too short to warrant the expression of an opinion.
That future, as we should say, lies on the knees of the gods, or, as the Arabs would put it, " Wa Allah 'alam," which, being interpreted, means "God is all-knowing."
Never mind all the technological advances of the world, do you think Iraq really has changed so much since the days of T.E. Lawrence? So much so that they may become the future allies in the war in terror that we hope they become?
Whether Iraq can be a "modern democracy" remains to be seen. Despite Dinesh D'Souza's recent book, I do think the majority of Muslims are "secular" Muslims, which is to say, some are very devout and some are Muslims because daddy was a Muslim and Mommy was a Muslim, etc. Don't know why we want to credit Muslims with higher levels of "devoutness" than we do Christians.
Most surveys show that about 25-30% of "Christians" are devout---by a variety of measures. A large majority do not know what the Bible says, and a sub-group of that majority would not care what it said, regardless, and would still call themselves Christians.
I say this because no matter what WE 'think' the Koran 'says,' it's irrelevant. All that matters is what most Muslims think it says, and then, whether they are committed to following it as they think it requires. Again, the evidence is, most people don't live this way. They abide by the basic tenents (prayer, almsgiving), ignore a lot (multiple marriages, slavery), and reject some (jihad, war).
So regardless of the form of government that is finally put in place in Iraq, I do think they will be our reluctant ally for a long time.