In Victory, a Cautionary Note

The terrorists lost the most crucial battle of their illegitimate insurgency recently, but they were not the only ones vanquished by the droves of Iraqis who courageously went to the polls. The American and international left lost too. They doubted that the United States would ever succeed in holding elections in a land considered barren soil for democracy. They were wrong. They never thought that such an election, even if it occured, would be succesful. Again, they were wrong. Though we won't know for up to ten days who won the election, truly, all of Iraq won. Even now, it seems almost unbelievable - a functioning democratic election in the Middle East. Yet the international community mustn't lose sight of what this all means. It still remains for the Iraqis to create a permanent constitution, one which will hopefully take into account all the different pieces of the Iraqi mosaic, including women. Yet the government created by this constitution may not be a true democracy as we understand it; this, however, shouldn't be overly concerning. What we seek in Iraq is not first democracy, but liberalism. Liberalism first will ultimately create democracy; democracy first threatens stability with the specter of an illiberal government. In a state like Iraq, unfortunately rich in mineral resources and lacking a cohesive sense of national identity, democracy may indeed produce a result entirely opposite of that which we seek. Democracy has the ability to create a tyranny of the Shiite majority, a corruption of all which we seek rising from the imperfections inherent in democracy. It is after all, as Churchill once quipped, the worst form of government except for all others which have been tried from time to time.

Some may decry this simplistic analysis, but to do so is to ignore the historic truth that our democracy is built and girded by a foundation of political liberalism. That, then, should be the goal of our efforts in Iraq, and our most fervent home in the wake of this landmark election.