"Democracy won, but do Americans care?"

[TexasLawyer]

Editorial from the Daily Star, Lebanon

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=12265

Democracy won, but do Americans care?

By Maggie Mitchell-Salem
Special to The Daily Star
Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Bush is counting on Sunday's images from Iraq to turn the tide of public opinion in the U.S. Scenes of men and women lining up to vote, defying the dire predictions of the insurgents, breathe life into Bush's second inaugural speech, particularly his statement that the "survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands." He is counting on average Americans to share his belief that "the best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."

However, unless Americans buy into Bush's rhetoric for years to come, his experiment with democracy will fail. Georgetown University professor Michael Hudson calls Iraq "the most expensive political science experiment in the world." 150,000 Americans were serving in Iraq in the run-up to the elections. The U.S. diplomatic presence in Baghdad is the largest since Vietnam. Politicians in Baghdad and Washington wisely avoid discussion of specific losses - no daily tallies, no lingering, mournful looks - and instead focus on the outcome. Freedom was mentioned more than 20 times in Bush's inaugural address; Iraq, not once.

The financial price of war no longer goes unnoticed. For three years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the administration managed to play a quiet shell game with the numbers, first in Afghanistan then in Iraq. Congress was effectively bullied to accept budgetary demands as a matter of patriotism and support for the commander-in-chief. Now, these supplemental requests - extra monies that fall outside the general budget - have totalled over $300 billion. Congress is less acquiescent; Americans are finally paying attention, especially as cuts closer to home cause them to reconsider waging war for democracy.

<snip>

Realistically, American forces will remain in Iraq for the foreseeable future. Will there be American military bases in Iraq? Absolutely. Bush is not spending $300 billion to ensure that in 10 years' time the largest U.S. presence in Iraq will be that of the Baghdad embassy. Lip service is being paid to the idea of a sovereign Iraqi government dictating if and when the U.S. leaves. But should the Iraqis come to believe that, American officials are likely to yank them back into reality. As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pointed out during an interview on Sunday: "America responded out of national interest, not just the interest of the region."

Bush's democratic vision, more pragmatically defined.

[realFedUp]

1. yep.....n/t