Iraq's not ready for national democracy, but local control and democracy is possible

Submitted by JabbaTheTutt (United States), Aug 6, 2007 at 08:41

The US Government has definitely made mistakes in Iraq. Withdrawing from the cities right now is a mistake. Maintain the surge, clear out al Qaeda, continue making deals with local tribes and sheikhs like in Anbar. Institute lots of local control, have the Iraq Army has the national unifying force, but have lots of local elections that the locals see that voting means something. The only successful multi-ethnic democracy is Switzerland. They succeeded with localism. They succeeded with have lots of local votes making decisions on local issues. The Swiss have a citizen's army, where every male from 18 to 50 is in the Army or Army reserve.

As a country based on federalism, it's hard to understand why the Federal government could ignore this and try for a unity, nationalized government. We should push the idea that Iraqi oil belongs to the people and the people should get the profits from the oil on an individual basis, rather than setting up groups, who'll fight over the oil proceeds. Make the governments go to the people to get their consent for taxation to support the government. Don't give government an independent source of revenue, make the government dependent on the consent of the governed.

How can we ignore the lessons of our own history?

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