DEXTER, MI, January 2, 2012 — Every American president dreams of a democratic world. Presidents from Truman to Obama have attempted to use the power vested in them to instruct other nations in, and convert them to, the principles of a democratic government. Democracy is messy.
These days how muddled it can become is not only apparent in Washington, D.C., but even more so in Iraq.
Within 24 hours of American pullout from Iraq, the Shiite dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki ordered the arrest of Tariq al-Hashimi, the Sunni Vice President. According to the arrest warrant, signed by five judges, Hashimi allegedly ran death squads that assassinated government officials and police officers in 2006 and 2007, and was responsible for a November 28, 2011 attack on parliament.
These accusations against Hashimi come at a time when President Obama congratulates the returning military personnel for a job well done in establishing democracy in Iraq. The wider audience listening to these speeches is the American voter. The Administration hopes to garner support for Obama’s reelection by ending an unpopular war. The fact is that the abrupt pullout of American troops, demanded by the Iraqi government, may come back to haunt the Administration. At some point, the electorate will ask “Who lost Iraq?”
The current political crisis in Iraq doesn’t begin with Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror. Its roots are deeper in the desert sands. Modern Iraq is formed of three provinces of the Turkish Ottoman Empire; Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra. These were forged by the Allies into a nation, then placed under Great Britain’s supervision at the end of First World War and the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.
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