I borrowed the title of this blog from Sarah McLaughlin’s beautiful song, Building A Mystery; not to be cynical, not to be critical; but to emphasize the fact that Iraqis themselves have entered uncharted territories since their liberation from Saddam in 2003. That territory, that undiscovered country, is democracy, which Winston Churchill said, “is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” I never believed that planting the seed of free wil in Iraq would be easy, but always believed it was the right thing to do, WMD’s or not.

There have been many successes in Iraq since the toppling of Saddam but, unfortunately, it seems to be the bad news that makes for eye-popping headlines — not always. The AP reported:

Shiite and Sunni Arabs celebrated the Islamic feast of sacrifice Tuesday with calls for an end to the bloodshed that has wracked Iraq since last month’s elections.

Indeed, the last week has been relatively quiet. I may be going out on a limb, but the lull in violence has been due to some good, old democratic politicking; the coalescing of anti-terrorist forces, increasingly led by Iraqis, with Coalition support; and a tide turning against the “insurgents.” According to the Wikipedia:

While some have noted an alliance of convenience that existed between the foreign fighters and the native Sunni insurgents, there are signs that the foreign militants, especially those who follow Zarqawi, are increasingly unpopular among the native insurgents. In the run-up to the December 2005 elections, Sunni insurgents are warning al Qaeda members and foreign fighters not to attack polling stations. One former Baathist told Reuters, “Sunnis should vote to make political gains. We have sent leaflets telling al Qaeda that they will face us if they attack voters.” And a Sunni insurgency leader specifically commented on Zarqawi: “Zarqawi is an American, Israeli and Iranian agent who is trying to keep our country unstable so that the Sunnis will keep facing occupation.”[28]

Why would there be a turning tide? 6,000 innocent Iraqis were slaughtered by terrorists in 2005 alone, while 30,000 have been murdered since 2003. This is Muslims (Sunni/Wahabi) killing other Muslims (mostly Shitte). When is enough enough?

Even in former terrorist strongholds like Al Anbar province, both Iraqi security forces and civilians are turning against the “insurgents.”

Iraq’s elections are bearing a bitter-sweet fruit, but I say this with positive connotation:

Final results are expected as early as this week, and the Shiite religious bloc may win about 130 seats - short of the 184 seats needed to avoid a coalition with other parties.

The Kurds could get about 55, the main Sunni Arab groups about 50 and the secular bloc headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a Shiite, about 25.

The fact that no one party will control parliament is a damn good thing, as it will force Iraqis into learning something that established democracies go through constantly: building a coalition government. Already, Sunnis are meeting with Shiites, Shiites are meeting with Kurds, Sunnis are meeting with Kurds, etc.

Iraqis are learning the intricacies of democratic politics, as “accountability has taken root.” Coalitions are being formed and reshuffled. Pundits are speculating on party endorsements. A free press is flourishing. Millions have voted in three rounds of elections. Sunnis participated big-time in most recent elections, allaying all the fears about whether they were “engaged” (the link is from Aljazeera). With a new constitution ratified — the vote endorsed by the UN — Iraqis are entering the final stretch in proving that democracy can work in an Arab country (the Lebanese have recently proved that, too).

Iraq’s economy is booming (see here also). Though still “fragile,” it grew an astonishing 50% last year. Some investors see the country as an opportunity, despite all the bad news. The United Gulf Bank (UGB) of Bahrain increased its holdings in Iraq’s Bank of Baghdad from $3.6 million to $36 million. That’s a vote of confidence from an Arab country.

The loss of American lives in our effort to democratize Iraq is tragic, but not meaningless. Some would immediately pounce on me for accentuating the positive or using the word “liberation,” but they are moral relativists, equivocating about “blood-for-oil.”

John Kerry blames the U.S. for Iraq’s “insurgency” (terrorists). Is Iraq becoming the “next Vietnam,” or is it being made into one?

John Murtha - a decorated Vietnam War veteran - said US troops had become “a catalyst for violence” in Iraq. …

“Our troops have become the primary target of the insurgency, they are united against US forces, and we have become a catalyst for violence,” Mr Murtha said at an emotional news conference in Washington.

Now Murtha claims “he would not join the U.S. military today.” But Murtha was confronted last week by an American veteran:

Like yourself I dropped out of college two years ago to volunteer to go to Afghanistan, and I went and I came back. If I didn’t have a herniated disk now I would volunteer to go to Iraq in a second with my troops, three of which have already volunteered to go to Iraq. I keep hearing you say how you talk to the troops and the troops are demoralized, and I really resent that characterization. (applause) The morale of the troops that I talk to is phenomenal, which is why my troops are volunteering to go back, despite the hardships they had to endure in Afghanistan.

I am not painting all Iraq war opponents with a single stroke, as there are legitimate reasons for opposing the invasion. Rather, I am speaking of the radical Left and their Islamist allies who still cling to the belief that the U.S. can do no right — ever.

Maybe not all hope is lost for the “opposition.” One of the few remaining sane Democrats, Joe Lieberman, wrote recently:

Here is an ironic finding I brought back from Iraq. While U.S. public opinion polls show serious declines in support for the war and increasing pessimism about how it will end, polls conducted by Iraqis for Iraqi universities show increasing optimism. Two-thirds say they are better off than they were under Saddam, and a resounding 82% are confident their lives in Iraq will be better a year from now than they are today. What a colossal mistake it would be for America’s bipartisan political leadership to choose this moment in history to lose its will and, in the famous phrase, to seize defeat from the jaws of the coming victory. …

Does America have a good plan for doing this, a strategy for victory in Iraq? Yes we do. And it is important to make it clear to the American people that the plan has not remained stubbornly still but has changed over the years. Mistakes, some of them big, were made after Saddam was removed, and no one who supports the war should hesitate to admit that; but we have learned from those mistakes and, in characteristic American fashion, from what has worked and not worked on the ground. The administration’s recent use of the banner “clear, hold and build” accurately describes the strategy as I saw it being implemented last week.

To pull out of Iraq now, as people like Ted Kennedy and John Murtha propose, would be a catastrophic decision. Remember that, love him or hate him, President Bush has been unequivocal in warning that the war on terror will be an extremely long and arduous process.

For the Iraqi people, who have known nothing but tyranny, building a democracy may be a mysterious and difficult process, but it is a task that they will eventually complete, to the betterment of the own lives, and a positive influence on the rest of the world.

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Related: Iraq

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