The Iraqis are still on a quest for Democracy

As reported by Thomas L. Friedman of The New York Times, there are still many reasons not to give up on the Iraqis and their quest for democracy. One such reason occurred in late May 2006 during the Iraqi Parliament’s vote to approve the country’s new cabinet. The Sunni Party leader, Saleh Mutlaq “stood before the Parliament and began denouncing the decision made by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to have Parliament vote on the new cabinet, even though al-Maliki had not yet filled the key security posts”.
At this point, another Sunni politician, Mithal al-Alousi, told Mr. Mutlaq to “sit down”. Mr. Mutlaq “ignored this request and continued his denunciations” until Mr. Alousi “pulled him down in his chair,” despite the fact that this action may anger some Sunni insurgents, the Times reported. Mr. Friedman believes that it is encouraging to see Iraqis take a stand like this because taking risks is crucial in the process of building a progressive Iraq.
Mr. Friedman states that, “in an age of such upset and confusion, one might find it helpful to listen to someone who is familiar with the Arab world and its history, such as Egyptian sociologist and democracy campaigner Saad Eddin Ibrahim”. He believes Iraq is in a period of “hard labor” in the building of its nation after many years of tyrannical rule. Ibrahim believes that the reason that violence in Iraq is so intense is because of the differing thoughts of the theocrats and autocrats. “Theocrats fear modernity taking root in Iraq and the autocrats fear democracy taking root there,” Mr. Ibrahim said. As a result, they are doing all they can to make Iraq fail.
“Despite all of this, thanks to US and British soldiers, Iraqi elections have been held and Parliament convened,” Ibrahim stated.
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