After eight years of war in Afghanistan we have…exactly what?

In today’s New York Times there is a piece concerning the banning of hundreds of former Sunni Baathists from the political process by the Shia majority in power entitled Iraq’s Ban on Democracy .  This ain’t good. 

We did not do such a good job of transplanting democratic ideals, did we?

See, here is the problem with the democratic process in any representative government on the planet.   You either have a democracy or you don’t.  It is just like being pregnant.  You either are with child or you are not.  There are no “half measures” allowed in a viable democracy anymore than a woman can be “sort of” pregnant. 

Either the people get to have their wants and desires taken into account by their own political processes or they do not.

The Western allies allowed former Nazis to participate in government after World War II in Germany if they showed signs of rehabilitation.  It was the only way to provide Germany with the talent and skills it needed and the kind of reconciliation that was appropriate for a shattered and misguided population. It worked wonderfully.

The same applies in Iraq.  If the Sunnis agree to act like Iraqis first and Sunnis second, this can work.  And the Shia majority is morally obligated to allow this to happen in order to allow their nation to heal.

So what is the lesson to all Shia Iraqi’s reading this?  Being a Western nation means more than having a MacDonald’s hamburger joint in every city.  You need to actually act like a Western nation, not just look like one.

Think about it.

CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)