Iraqi Government In Trouble Too

Supposedly, one of the reasons that George Bush invaded and occupied the country of Iraq was to topple the dictatorship there and install an American-style democracy in its place. And he did install a puppet government there after holding "elections" (although all candidates had to be approved by the occupying power -- the United States).

I have been saying for a while now that democracy can't be imposed anywhere by an outside military power. We couldn't do it in Vietnam, and we should have known better than to try it in Iraq (or Afghanistan). The only reason that Iraqi government is still in power is because we still have 50,000 soldiers in that country. But even that may not be enough to save it.

The Iraqi people are not stupid, and they have been watching the people of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. And if the people can accomplish something in those countries, why not in Iraq? On Friday, the people of Iraq took to the streets in massive demonstrations against the government. They are unhappy with the corruption, the shoddy public services and the inability of the government to rebuild the country (and probably also to get the U.S. to leave).

The Iraqi president begged the people not to demonstrate, saying they would just be helping the "loyalists of Saddam" and the insurgents. Shiite leader Moktada al-Sadr also begged to people to stay home (he still thinks he can carve out a powerful position for himself in the puppet government). But the people wouldn't listen to either one. They turned out to demonstrate against the government in at least 10 Iraqi cities -- showing they have widespread support.

President Nuri al-Maliki said he supported the free speech rights of the people to assemble and demonstrate, but he turned his security forces loose on them also. At least 11 people were killed, and many were beaten.

This is not going to go away anytime soon. Even if al-Maliki is able to suppress the demonstrations for now, they will pop up again -- especially once the Americans leave. The current government there will not survive. I can't believe we were ever stupid enough to think that it could.

It is time for all American troops to leave Iraq. Then the people of Iraq can establish whatever government they want (and they will). It was never our right to impose a government on them.

And the same thing is true of Afghanistan.