Source: http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=318470107512794
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, February 02, 2009 4:20 PM PT
Iraq: Provincial voting goes peacefully, but that's only part of the story. We may also be seeing the emergence of a democratic bulwark against Iran and its Islamic Revolution.
After all the blood and treasure spent on bringing Iraq to stability, it's easy to see why most Americans probably have stopped caring about the political nuances of the place and just want to see the troops come home.
For them, the news is good.
Provincial elections over the weekend went off peacefully. Many Sunnis who boycotted earlier balloting appeared to be joining the process this time, though turnout was still weak in the old insurgency hotbed of Falluja. This may qualify as the "political reconciliation" that critics of the Iraq War call the real test of its success.
But Iraqis may actually have gone beyond reconciliation to something even more advanced — apathy.
Don't get us wrong. We believe every qualified person should vote. But when people choose not to vote, there are better and worse reasons for doing so. A nation can live with nonvoting cynics. Nonvoting fanatics are far more dangerous.
Three or four years ago, nonvoting was organized in the form of sectarian boycotts that fed sectarian violence.
Now a decision to stay away from the polls seems more individual and less threatening. Falluja day laborer Mayer Naji sounded like the typical American nonvoter, not a potential suicide bomber, when he told a New York Times reporter why he skipped this election: "I could not find a qualified candidate that I can trust — all those candidates came for their personal benefits."
Among those who did vote, there are also signs that they expect less and ask less of their politics. This, too, is a healthy trend.
In the context of Iraq and of the Middle East in general, it means that voters are starting to treat their elected officials more as servants than as saviors. The most notable result from early returns is that the Islamists were losing ground to more secular parties.
The biggest Shiite religious party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, may be headed for embarrassing losses in the Shiite heartland cities of Najaf and Basra. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has built strong nationwide support for facing down Shiite militiamen, is also following the nonsectarian trend.
His Dawa Party has Islamist roots, but his new State of Law coalition is playing down religion and focusing on down-to-earth concerns like water, electric power and security.
Ayad Allawi, the former interim prime minister who leads the secular Iraqi National List, is also making a strong showing.
Provincial elections by themselves do not change national policy. But they suggest which way the winds are blowing as Iraq prepares to elect a new Parliament next year.
If the current trend holds, Iraq will not only be a functioning democracy but a democracy that pointedly rejects the agenda of its dangerous neighbor to the east. Though not an official ally of the U.S., it would be a like-minded bulwark against a common threat, Iran's Islamic Revolution.
This is a goal that the nation-builders of the Bush Administration had in mind long ago, when they wanted to break with the squalid old practice of checking hostile dictators with more friendly ones — like Saddam Hussein, at one point.
Before the surge, it took quite a leap of faith to think that Iraq could ever serve such an unusual role in the Middle East. Now, it's not so wild a dream after all.
And what about George W. Bush, who refused to give up on the dream? If you look carefully, you just might see his reputation starting to rise.
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