[Mb-civic] Once Upon a Time In Baghdad . . . - Eugene Robinson - Washington Post Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

Once Upon a Time In Baghdad . . .
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By Eugene Robinson
The Washington Post
Tuesday, April 4, 2006; A23

"If only . . . " used to be nothing more than the wish of a fairy tale 
protagonist who was out of options, as in "If only a handsome prince 
would arrive and save the day," or "If only a brave huntsman would 
happen by and perform some Abu Ghraib-style interrogation on this big, 
bad wolf that just ate Grandma." Now, thanks to George W. Bush and his 
court of wizards, "if only . . . " is also a subtle yet comprehensive 
strategy for war-fighting, insurgency-quashing, nation-building and all 
the other urgent business they've bungled in Iraq.

Condoleezza Rice made a surprise trip to Baghdad over the weekend to 
advance the Fairy Tale Doctrine, pressuring Prime Minister Ibrahim 
al-Jafari to stop all the maneuvering and go ahead and form a 
government, preferably one that doesn't make it a crime to be Sunni 
Muslim. You see, if only the Iraqis can put together a government, 
everything will be just fine.

Okay, she didn't quite say that all would be sweetness and light. But by 
jetting to Baghdad without telling anybody in advance, taking along 
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and freezing al-Jafari with her 
most intimidating Ice Queen faux-smile, she clearly reinforced the 
administration's view that cobbling together a new government is the 
next magic bullet that is going to rescue the Iraq adventure from an 
utter debacle.

The Bush administration would like to see a government of "national 
unity," as if such a thing existed in today's Iraq. Perhaps in the 
fanciful Baghdad of the Arabian Nights there's a genie who can cross his 
arms, blink his eyes and conjure a gentle breeze that spreads harmony 
across the land. If they find him, they should make him prime minister.

Bringing disaffected Iraqis into the government is supposed to deprive 
the bloody insurgency of popular support. It's worth noting that on 
Sunday, as Rice began her visit, at least 50 people were killed 
throughout Iraq in mortar attacks, death-squad executions, bombings and 
other forms of mayhem.

It's also worth noting that we've heard the Bush administration's "if 
only . . . " predictions so many times that it's hard to take them 
seriously.

The war started with the premise that if only we could depose Saddam 
Hussein, all sorts of wonderful benefits would accrue. We would 
eliminate the threat of attack by his weapons of mass destruction -- 
except Hussein turned out not to have any. We would strike a mortal blow 
against our terrorist enemies -- except there turned out to be no 
connection between the Iraqi dictator and Sept. 11, 2001. Our troops 
would be greeted as liberators -- except it turned out that many Iraqis 
saw them as occupiers.

If only Iraqis would go to the polls and show the world a stirring 
portrait of democracy in action, the nascent insurgency would wither 
away -- except that when Iraqis voted, the insurgency grew. If only the 
Iraqis could write a constitution, that would marginalize the insurgents 
-- except the insurgency grew some more. If only Saddam Hussein were 
made to sit in the dock like a common defendant, the insurgents would 
lose faith -- except his histrionics seemed, if anything, to hearten his 
die-hard followers. If only the Iraqis would go to the polls and vote 
again -- except the violence has now worsened into sectarian killing 
that threatens to blow the place apart.

And of course there was the biggest "if only . . ." of all, the one 
about how invading Iraq and turning it into a pro-Western democracy 
would touch off a wildfire of pro-Western democracy throughout the 
Middle East. Well, we did manage to get Hamas elected in the Palestinian 
territories and strengthen religious parties almost everywhere else. 
History will take a while to render a final judgment on this one, but 
early returns are anything but promising.

Now the administration is fixated on the peace and prosperity that will 
surely take root throughout ancient Mesopotamia if only a bunch of 
self-interested Iraqi politicians grudgingly settle on a division of 
spoils that can, with a straight face, be called a "government of 
national unity." The Bush people keep moving the finish line, and the 
Iraqis keep reaching it, and the insurgency not only persists but takes 
on new, more ominous dimensions.

The tit-for-tat atrocities by Sunni and Shiite death squads are 
threatening to devolve into the kind of revenge killings that take on a 
momentum of their own, because they do not need any underlying political 
logic to sustain them. It becomes: You kill my brother, I kill your 
brother -- until we run out of brothers.

If only the Fairy Tale Doctrine guaranteed a happy ending. Tragically, 
in the real world, it doesn't.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/03/AR2006040301713.html?nav=hcmodule
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