Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January-February 2009, page 30

Special Report

Leaving Iraq—But Better Than We Found It

By Yasir A. Shallal

	A U.S. soldier stands near farmers gathered in Safwan, Iraq, some 30 miles southeast of Basra, Dec. 7, 2008. Multinational forces based in southern Iraq distributed plastic greenhouses and other farming equipment to local farmers (AFP Photo/Essam Al-Sudaini).

AFTER THE fall of the statue of Saddam Hussain in Baghdad’s Ferdoos Square on April 9, 2003, Iraqis were full of hope. Unfortunately, their hopes quickly faded as they began living a nightmare of violence, death squads and abductions. This pre-emptive war turned Iraq into a battleground by leaving its borders open and inviting in all who wanted to fight. President Bush, himself, went on the record with his famous challenge to “Bring It On.” First to accept was al-Qaeda, which made Iraq its new battleground. Sunni and Shi’i extremists took advantage of the opportunity to settle past feuds. For the past five years, no one in Iraq has been spared the violence.

During 2008, the daily cycle of violence has subsided. This can be attributed to a multitude of changes and events—including the engagement of those who previously were disenfranchised, the addition of troops on the ground, and the widespread ethnic and sectarian cleansing of mixed neighborhoods in Baghdad and throughout Iraq.

Today, hope has returned once again, and we have an obligation and an opportunity to support the Iraqi people by fixing what we broke. Americans have invested much blood and treasure in Iraq, with little to show for it. Even after thousands of dead and injured, and billions of dollars spent, we are told that the modest gains made are “fragile and reversible.” As the current debate intensifies about the future of the U.S. in Iraq, we should at a minimum secure our legacy and leave Iraq in a better condition than we found it.

One of the major problems with this region of the world is its non-representative governments. Most of them are dictatorships that have held onto power for generations, with no accountability to their people. The current government of Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad was elected through a flawed process that disenfranchised many communities in Iraq. Its power is derived from parties that depend on foreign benefactors, the U.S. occupation and Iranian meddling.

While Iraq’s current transitional government has brought some stability to the Green Zone, it has been plagued with rampant corruption and incompetence and can very easily fall into the pattern of other regional dictatorships. It will be hard for the current ruling group to voluntarily cede power and hold free and fair elections in 2009 without supervision.

Now is the time for the new Obama administration to seize the moment and insist on free and fair elections that would give all of Iraq’s communities the opportunity to elect individuals that would represent their true interest, as Americans recently did here. Additionally, an accountable parliament will be essential to providing oversight and credibility for addressing the dire problems facing Iraq. The goal of such an effort is to create the conditions for an outcome that is less ideological than that of the last, sectarian-focused election, and to stabilize the country so that our troops can come home.

After four years of an ineffective sectarian government secluded in the Green Zone, with little or no support outside those confines, it is time for Iraq’s moderates to have a greater voice. While the fringe elements of both the Shi’i and Sunni, and some Kurdish, communities will continue to be polarized, a move toward the middle should attract the majority of Iraqis. The inclusion of the four million displaced middle class Iraqis who have suffered the most during the past five years will be essential to a free and fair election, which can potentially result in a governing majority of about 60 percent.

The U.N.’s experience in places like Bosnia, Kosovo and other war-torn societies will be of great value to the Iraqi process. A successful internationally observed election can restore the Iraqi people’s confidence in their representatives, and would produce a parliament that reflects the will of its constituents.

It will take time for Iraqi society to repair the damage that has been done by years of war, sanctions and a brutal dictatorship, but this is the only path that will lead to an Iraq that, finally, will be better than the one we broke in 2003.

Yasir A. Shallal is an Iraqi-American mechanical engineer with experience in the U.S. and the Middle East.

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