John LeBoutillier
Thursday, April 8, 2004

A year ago we were told that this pre-emptive war – the first ever in American history – was to prevent another 9/11 attack with WMD. Well, as we now all know, there are no WMD – and, as Chief Weapons Inspector of the CIA David Kay said on Jan. 28, there "never were any WMD since 1998."

We were also told that after removing Saddam Hussein from power we would "see" democracy take root inside Iraq.

This promise from the Bush administration was as specious as their WMD claims were. (Please note that Colin Powell now admits much of his famous U.N. speech about WMD was false.)

Democracy – this unique system of freedom of speech and assembly, decision-making through public voting and a free press, honest courts and a desire for justice – is not something "given" or "imposed" from outside.

Democracy has to be earned by those who want it.

Where are the Iraqi 'democrats' willing to fight and die to see their nation join the community of free and democratic nations?

When U.S. troops went in a year ago, were there any local groups who took up arms alongside American soldiers?

Was there – ever – an underground movement inside Iraq that wanted to replace Saddam with a free and democratically elected government?

The Kurds up north have repeatedly fought for their freedom and been good allies of the United States. We, under Bush 41, sold them out after the first Gulf War and let them be savaged and slaughtered by Saddam. These brave Kurds do want an independent nation with democratic principles. But we oppose that new 'Kurdistan,' as does Turkey.

The Sunnis and the Shiites have refused to fight for democracy. You wonder what Bush 43 is talking about when he says "We are fighting to create a democracy in the Middle East." Really? What if the people don't want it?

Please explain how you can have democracy when the dominant religion treats women like third-class citizens?

Even the United States, which for over 100 years did not allow women to vote, had a tradition of respect for women. The Muslim faith, however, treats women poorly. This is one vital reason Muslim nations are falling further behind the developed West in education and standard of living. How can a society prosper with 52 percent of itself kept in second-class status?

Ironically, the Shia view women differently than the Sunni do: Shia women are truly secondary to men – from work to education to 'covering up' with veils. But it is the Shia who want to win any 'elections' by capitalizing on their 60 percent majority status. Suddenly this oppressed majority wants elections – based on one-person-one-vote (including women!) – in order to seize power.

And yet the U.S. opposes a Shiite government. So we have torpedoed a one-person-one-vote national election. Instead, we have hand-picked this provisional Iraqi council to run things. But it appears that these folks couldn't run their way out of a wet paper bag.

No wonder there is now widespread rebellion among the Sunnis and Shiites.

And it is only going to get worse.

These are not a people thirsting for our form of freedom or democracy. G.W. Bush is naive and inexperienced; he has never traveled around the world and has no understanding of other people.

There is no substitute for the 'gut feel' you get when you go somewhere and meet and talk to people. Bush had never left the U.S. before becoming president - except for a trip to visit his parents in Red China back in the 1970s when his father was our representative to Peking.

Instead he has relied on advisers – many of whom brought their own personal agendas to the job.

They sold Bush – and the nation – a "bill of goods."

First it was WMD.

When that didn't work, they tried "democracy."

That, too, is failing.

What will be their next excuse?

John LeBoutillier, a former U.S. congressman, is an author and columnist. E-mail John Leboutillier.