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Open Letter to Those Opposing the Iraq War

Tauheed Ahmed March 29, 2003

Tags: Occupation , Revolution , Dictatorship , Democracy , China , Iraq , India , Bush

Bush says that after the war is over, the US (along with UK)will focus on introducing democracy in Iraq. The question then is: do you think democracy
is a good idea? If your answer is "no", then clearly there can be no more discussion.
If you answer is "yes", then the next question is: Can Bush be trusted to make a reasonable effort at doing what he says he will for the Iraqis?
If your answer is "no", then ponder this: Many of you trusted the US enough to come an live here (I wont get into the reasons you left). Others trust the US enough to apply for immigrant visas and wait in long lines hoping to come here one day. If you can trust your life and the life and future of your children with the US, why do you find it so hard to trust the elected President of the US when he says that aims to introduce democracy in Iraq and has no intention of turning it into a colony?
If this is not enough, I ask you to examine the track record of the US, and its partner UK:
a. Japan: This country made a historic turn from one-man rule (the emperor, and sometimes the shogun) to democracy AFTER MacArthur took over.
b. Germany: After WWII, it was under US-led occupation that this country emerged as a democracy. The Soviet part of Germany remained a dictatorship for four decades before the Berlin War crumbled before the truth: the US knew what it was talking about when it worked with people like Adenauer to introduced democracy in W. Germany. The Soviets (and all the socialists of the third world and Europe who scorned the US then as they scorn it now) did not. The Berlin Wall crumbled before this Truth.
c. India: The Jewel in the Crown of the British Empire. The UK (coalition partner of the US) left India a democratic country with secular principles. An Indonesian friend of mine bemoaned the fact that they were ruled by the wrong country and not by the UK, and thus failed to inherit strong democratic traditions after independence.
d. Afghanistan: The US was blamed for not staying behind to rebuild Afghanistan. Those critics are implicitly acknowledging (although they will never admit this even to themselves), that if the US had stayed behind in Afghanistan (rather than leaving it up to us Pakistanis to fill the power vacuum), that country too would have been on the road to progress. And guess what crawled into Afghanistan after the US left: Mullah Omar.
e. Canada: Where did this country get is democratic traditions
Hint: it wasnt the eskimos. Hint, Hint: It was the Anglo-Saxon tradition.
f. Australia: Where did this country get its democratic traditions from?
Hnt: it wasnt the aborigines.
g. China: Guess what the democracy movement in China used for inspiration - no, it wasnt a statue of Saddam Hussein or Mullah Omar. It was a replica of the Statue of Liberty.
g. And finally, France: Ah, yes, the French. Mon Dieu!! The land of liberte, equalite, fraternite. Even they were inspired by the ideals of the American Revolution to overthrow their own King Louis XIV and friends.

So, to all those who distrust Bush when he says the US intends to introduce democracy in Iraq, I have this to say: Have the courage to see the truth. Because the truth will be still be there even if you close your eyes tightly shut to it.
And the truth is that the US and the Anglo-Saxon tradition on which it rests has conquered the world not through force of arms, but through the force of truth.

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