[Mb-civic] EDITORIAL Hard Work, Indeed LATimes

[Michael Butler]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-iraq4oct04.story

EDITORIAL

Hard Work, Indeed

 October 4, 2004

 President Bush and interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi do their best to
paint Iraq as a land of blue skies and sunshine, and never mind the
beheadings, kidnappings, oil pipeline explosions and suicide car bomb
attacks that kill dozens of Iraqis and foreigners at a time. The newly
emphasized goals of the invasion, once the weapons of mass destruction
turned out not to exist, included implanting democracy in the "Greater
Middle East," starting with Baghdad, and creating an economy more
capitalistic than socialistic. But there are indications the Bush
administration is belatedly waking up to reality.

 Bush doesn't admit the goals have changed, but some of his top advisors do.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Congress recently that Iraq had
never been peaceful and perfect and it wasn't likely to get there. National
security advisor Condoleezza Rice last month said the administration would
settle for an elected Iraqi government that could defend itself. Those are
welcome pullbacks from the overly optimistic visions that Washington
proclaimed soon after the initial military success.

 Bush continues to stress the goal of a "free and peaceful Iraq," hardly an
objective anyone can quarrel with. In January, Vice President Dick Cheney
called for "promoting democracy throughout the Greater Middle East and
beyond." Again, a worthy pursuit, but now swamped by Iraq's rising violence.

 The Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report last
month, based on extensive interviews and research in Iraq, that after
decades of rule by Saddam Hussein, wars and U.N. sanctions, Iraqis did not
expect much after last year's invasion. That's about what they've received:
not much. Hussein is gone, but many can't leave their homes without fearing
criminals motivated by money or revenge ‹ or hatred for those helping the
occupying forces. Yet the center also found Iraqis felt that because of its
wealth, the U.S. would improve their country greatly; that hasn't happened.

 Congress approved a stunning $18-billion aid package to rebuild Iraq, yet
only $1 billion of that has been spent, and more than $3 billion will be
diverted to security following a realistic assessment that insurgents must
be defeated or they will tear down whatever is built and kill those doing
the reconstruction.

 Iraq would benefit from stability and democracy. But to get there, the U.S.
has to get more Iraqis into jobs ‹ police, truck drivers, teachers, oil
field workers ‹ to let them feed their families and deprive the guerrillas
of support. The Center for Strategic and International Studies has suggested
what needs to be done: decentralize government, protect the country's judges
and lawyers, get more international help, provide more direct assistance to
Iraqis. It is one of several groups that warned before the war of what could
go wrong. The administration ignored those warnings; it should listen now.


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