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Is Iraq the new West Berlin? An island of freedom and modernity in a sea of despotism and backwardness?
To answer your question – no, I don’t think so, even if they do construct a “Checkpoint Khalid “. West Berlin was an oasis that became a symbol of freedom that people died trying to get into. The grip on Berlin was Communism, which people knew to be oppressive because it was a foreign imposition on half of the city. It doesn’t look like people of other Islamic countries will be leaving their homes to set up shop in Iraq for reasons of persecution. First, I doubt that others in that region consider their freedoms to be confined in the same way as that of Communist Berlin. Second, after the U.S. leaves Iraq, I wonder if persecutions will really cease and whether liberties will be ensured. Surely, one could forsee a situation where a democracy is established, but without the social and political advancements which have brought America or Britain forward over the past few hundred years. Think about legal and social advancements made in our country over the last 75 years or so.
I admit it’s not a perfect analogy, but I was thinking more along the lines of an example: I doubt the subjects of Communism would have held out as much hope as they did (esp. at the beginning and end of the Cold War) for a better life if there hadn’t been a shining example of freedom and capitalism right in the middle of the Workers’ Paradise. Iraq can be much the same. Syria Iran and even Saudi Arabia can’t ignore the success story that Iraq will (hopefully) be. They can’t keep telling their subjects “democracy is anti-thetical to Islam” when there’s a functioning Muslim democracy right next door.
I believe that Turkey is currently the only Islamic democracy in the world, and I’m not sure how it’s perceived in other Islamic countries. I can see your point that Iraq might be a shining example for other countries in the region down the road. This depends, though, on political and economic success. Political success builds a framework, and economic success will help defeat (what I consider to be) the main enemy of successful political systems – corruption.
In such a case, Iraq might be likened to an America where immigrants come to find a better life in a better system. One thing that might stand in the way of a shining Islamic democracy is a common hatred of Israel.Turkey may be a democracy, but other Mulsim nations don’t really consider it to be part of the core of the Mid East like Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran to an extent, and possibly Jordan and Syria. Turkey has long been the most European (geographically and otherwise) of Muslim nations and doesn’t get much cultural attention. But no one can ignore Iraq. Historically, politically and geographically it’s in the very heart of Islamastan and for that very reason it strikes me as a new type of West Berlin. The farther a nation is from the heart of a system, the less attention gets paid to it. Yugoslavia, while still communist, went its own way in the 60s and this did nothing to foment a revolution in the rest of the Eastern Bloc or draw a violent reaction from Moscow. Likewise Afghanistan and Lebanon: Muslim nations that have gone democratic but aren’t part of the intense focus of our enemies like Iraq is because they exist on the peripheries of the Jihadis sphere of influence. the Hungarian or Czech uprisings in the 50s and 60s were not something Moscow could ignore because they were deemed to be too vital to the geopolitical situation. So it is with Iraq: our enemies can’t ignore it because it is so vital to their own worldview that to abandon it to us would be unthinkable. I realize I’m mixing metaphors somewhat, but I believe Iraq is a mutli-faceted issue with a lot of long term ramifications and potetentials for everyone involved.
nemesisenforcer wrote:So it is with Iraq: our enemies can’t ignore it because it is so vital to their own worldview that to abandon it to us would be unthinkable. I realize I’m mixing metaphors somewhat, but I believe Iraq is a mutli-faceted issue with a lot of long term ramifications and potetentials for everyone involved.
I agree - the ramifications are long-term and we really won't know the effect that the removal of Sadam will have on the Middle East for years to come. There are a lot of factors yet to play out, but the course of Iraq will also define Bush's presidency to some degree. If Iraq fall, long after Bush is out of office, he will be blamed; if Iraq succeeds, then Bush will still be blamed (lol) - actually, while that may still be true, his legacy will shine more brightly.
