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Opinion

Model Arab democracy
United States needs to continue forward with Iraq policies

By Andy Noble, Indianapolis, Indiana
June 3, 2003
The Iranian

We recently won the war, but could we lose the peace? History is about to repeat itself…. Baghdad is now ‘liberated’, with the help of the United States and its’ coalition partners. We have already spent billions of US dollars on military action in this country, so pivotal and important to bringing lasting peace and stability in the unpredictable Middle East.

President Bush, facing re-election next year (2004), like former President Richard Nixon in 1973 sought for Vietnam, is seeking a multi-year US financial commitment to aid Iraq in the re-building of this nation, so critical to establishing a modern Arab model democracy in the region. Without it, the region remains fractious and unstable, with regimes like Syria, Iran and even Saudi Arabia representing vastly different, yet unpredictable, policies and relationships with the U.S.

1974: Richard Nixon falls to Watergate in 1973, and the Republicans pay dearly for it in the 1974 congressional elections, losing key seats to the Democratic Party. The Democratically-controlled Congress cuts aid to Vietnam, originally pegged at over $6 billion a year (1974 values) to less than $600 million, saying we need to focus our attention domestically to other important priorities. The rest is history, as we had failed and abandoned Vietnam in helping rebuild and influence their country and the region, as it had remained out of the world economy and US sphere of influence until recently.

2004: The US economy continues to waver, and George W. Bush falls to the same defeat his father did – based solely on a lagging economy and voter dissatisfaction. Democrats take back the White House, or just as important, take back a majority in the Congress, cutting back aid to Iraq and repealing the 2001 tax cuts in favor of a new domestically-focused agenda. Iraq suffers, and tends toward a more Islamic-influenced, less democratically-elected government with input from Iran and Syria, and eventually a familiar leadership structure emerges again that is anti-Western and oppressive economically and socially toward the people of Iraq.

Can it all happen again? History may tell, but we need to continue forward with our policies on Iraq, with the same President and his agenda, for the sake of history and American influence in the Middle East.

Author

Andy D. Noble is President of Plateau Development Group, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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