Failure to spread democracy in Iraq

The President claims that we are winning in Iraq. We are not.

A key piece of evidence for this is the Taliban-like repression that is spreading in Iraq, perhaps worse for women than anyone else.

The selections below are from an article by AFP:

Gunmen broke into the house of an Iraqi women's rights campaigner and shot her dead in front of her three children, police have said.

Human rights activists say the lives of women in Iraqi society have worsened dramatically since the US-led invasion of March 2003, amid a general break down in law and order and the rise of conservative Islamist militias.

Captain Imad Khudhir of the Kirkuk police said Saturday 38-year-old Halima Ahmed Hussein al-Juburi was killed late on Friday by 10 unidentified attackers who broke into her home in the northern town of Hawijah.

"We do not know the motive behind the crime," he said.

Juburi was the head of the Human Rights organisation of Maternity and Childhood in Hawijah, a lawless town in an area plagued by violent Sunni insurgent groups. Her husband was not at home at the time of the attack.

Professional women and rights campaigners are often targeted by conservative Islamist groups who adhere to a strictly traditional view of women's role in society and use violence to drive women out of public life.

If the US cannot protect women as they seek to fulfill the oppotunities provided by their basic human rights, then the US is not spreading democracy and freedom into the region.

Clearly the invasion into Iraq in 2003 opened Pandora's box, releasing forces that our military and governmental leaders could not control.

Should they have known this. Absolutely. Even a cursory glance at the history of places like the Balkans after the collapse of Soviet domination shows the sort of unrest that was to be anticipated when a strong-arm despot like Hussein was removed from power.

Why not heed those lessons of history? Arrogance. "We know better how to manage this invasion. We are more 'right' than our predecessors. We will manage our goverment and this military action better than previous adminstrations could."

Pride goeth before a fall.

In this case, the Iraqis pay the price for the pride, and for the fall.

GP