Over at The Progressive, Matthew Rothschild has an interesting commentary on the recent suggestion by the Bush administration that they are looking into "alternatives other than democracy" as a possible solution to the quagmire in Iraq (see here). Here is an excerpt:
There was a big clue planted at the bottom of the very long lead article in The New York Times of August 17. That story noted the alarming rise in insurgent attacks against American and Iraqi forces. The number of IEDs in July was 2,625, just about twice what it was back in January, when Zarqawi was still prowling around. Clearly, his death did nothing to slow the pace down or snuff out the insurgency.
[...]
But back to the clue. The last three paragraphs of this story revealed that “senior administration officials . . . are considering alternatives other than democracy,” according to a military expert who was just briefed at the White House.
Hmmm, “alternatives other than democracy.”
My, what can those be?
Monarchy? Dictatorship?
[...]
That may have been what Cheney and Rumsfeld had in mind all along. From the very beginning, they wanted to install in power Ahmad Chalabi and his groups of exiles roosting in the Iraqi National Congress, writes George Packer in his book The Assassin’s Gate. When the situation in Iraq began to deteriorate, Cheney blamed those in the Administration who refused to go along with this plan.
“In the fall of 2003, Dick Cheney approached his colleague Colin Powell, stuck a finger in his chest, and said, ‘If you hadn’t opposed the INC and Chalabi, we wouldn’t be in this mess,’ ” Packer reports.
Maybe Chalabi is waiting in the wings still—or some other Saddam wannabe. Bush appears to be taking applications.
Of course the Bushies never wanted a democracy in Iraq. After all, a truly free Iraqi people may oust we liberators and seize control of their own oil supplies. And since this administration has had its eye on the oil along, the thought of letting silly democratic principles get in the way must surely be as distasteful to them as the thought of an alliance between Iraq and Iran (see here and here)--which would thereby leave the two countries sitting on 245 gigabarrels of conventional crude oil (see here).
When dictatorships are so much easier to install and control, why bother with democracy? Indeed, our Commander and Thief has already expressed his preference for dictatorships to democracy before (see here and here). Why would we expect anything more from him now?
*Cross-posted at truth to power (with open comment thread)
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