Here we are less then a month away from elections in Iraq and I can't help but wonder if the world is standing on the of a diving board in front of an empty pool.
I've been watching the Shiite majority in Iraq consolidate their political infrastructure for the past few months. Although there is no polling or census data available it looks like the conservative Islamic sect is poised to take over the Iraqi Congress and the Prime Ministership. This is probably bad for the rest of the world.
The plan U.S. officials have drawn up call for elections and then that elected body will draw up an Iraqi constitution, hopefully it will hand written and all cool looking like ours too. So if a group wins a sizable majority they will be able to tailor the constitution to there liking.
Most likely the Shiites are going to win and the majority of the Shiite population wants to have some form of Shariah, the restrictive Islamic law, written into the constitution. While this has different implications for women's rights, the word that should scare the world is terrorism.
Under a free and Islamic Iraq the conservative, America-hating Muslims will find and an open market to preach their message. Their words are going to reach a generation of young Iraqis who say first hand their family members killed.
According to Iraqbodycount.net there have been at least 14,770 Iraqi civilians have been killed by “Coalition” forces. Does anyone really think that this isn’t going to be a fertile breeding ground for the next generation terrorists?
Saddam was a bad man, but we know he didn’t have ties with Al Queda and that he likely hindered their efforts in his country. Now conservative mosques will have a protected voice in Iraq and we will be left to wonder which is better? A free, socially conservative and likely anti-American Iraq, or the one we destroyed?
Article comments
1 - akmed
i think we can make iraq as good as a democracy as we have and enjoy here when all is said and done. instead of freeing iraq which is what sounds like will be done we will instead use this diversion to take away freedoms here which will create the equality of the two of us.. kinda a backwards approach but the results will certainly be true.