We already have a strong man.

Submitted by William Hart (United States), Apr 28, 2003 at 10:09

Daniel,

We already have a "strong man" in Iraq, Gen. Garner. If we pick an Iraqi to be the "strong man" (SM) several things will happen:
1) it will undermine our efforts to democratize (strong man = dictator)
2) the SM will be the target of Iranian assasination efforts (see recent killing of "pro-US" mullah)
3) the SM may not step down, or follow the plan.

Democracy is like Arithmatic, mastery requires practice. Gen. Garner should start by setting up elected town councils in every town and neigborhood councils in the big cities, to serve an advisory role to his rebuilding efforts. Obviously, Gen Garner will have to ensure free and fair elections with full participation by the women of Iraq. Every school need a PTA and an elected student council.
This will weaken the Shiite agitators from Iran by moving the street discussion from national politics to local politics.

Until the Iraqis can adopt and embrace their own constitution, Gen Garner will have to enforce limits on the will of the majority and ensure the rights of the minority.

Bill

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