Shiite radicals are rapidly taking over Basra. Among closing instrument shops, intimidating vendors who sell alcohol and cigarettes The New York Times reports,
Few women walk around without a head scarf and full-length black robe. A young woman who gave her name as Layla said she could wear jeans without a robe a year ago. But seven months before, as she strode from her house, a group of men came up to her and warned her that she was improperly dressed.I'm wondering if this is what George Bush means by freedom.
She says she no longer goes out in public without a robe.
As if that wasn't bad enough, it seems the entire security apparatus of Basra has been infiltrated by Shiite radicals with ties to Iran, "Posters of clerics, including Moktada al-Sadr, who ignited two uprisings against American-led forces, adorn concrete barriers at police checkpoints. Leaders of the militias say their fighters now make up a large part of the uniformed security forces." And "Posters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Iranian revolution, are plastered along streets and even at the provincial government center." The Times story goes on, "The governor also talks eagerly of buying electricity from Iran, given that the American-led effort has failed to provide enough of it." Our "re-construction" of Iraq is so incompetent that the government there is looking to Iran for electric power? That's outrageous given all the spin coming out of White House about how things have improved in Iraq since the invasion. One has to wonder what has become of the billions of dollars we've spent to restore the electric grid in Iraq.
Yep, so it seems "freedom" and "democracy" are going the same way as WMD. We invaded Iraq to take out the WMD. When it became clear that WMDs were a fantasy of Big Daddy Cheney and his cabal, Georgie shifted the reason for the Iraqi war to spreading "freedom" and "democracy." While one could argue that what's going on in Basra is a form of democracy, the religious parties did win a majority in the recent election, what they're doing officially and unofficial can't be considered "freedom."
Did we go to war so religious extremists could threaten musicians, threaten women, and impose a radical religious agenda? Did we go to war in Iraq so that the Iranians could gain a foot hold in Iraq? The whole Iraq debacle has gotten us so distracted and given the terrorists a great example of Western neo-colonialism and imperialism with which to recruit new members that it's little surprise that bombs went off in London today. George Bush's Iraq folly hasn't made us any safer. It's time to admit that the Bush policy has failed and try a new track. One based on attacking the root causes of terrorism: poverty, a lack of economic equity, a lack of political transparency, and a lack of political and social agency for marginalized groups in much of the world. Only if we start dealing with these issues in a real and meaningful way will we have any hope of defeating terrorism and religious radicalism.
