The Governing Council appointed by the United States after liberating Iraq replaced itself yesterday with a caretaker government that will assume transitional sovereignty on June 30. The Governing Council, an initial step in the transition to representative government in Iraq, was charged with selecting leaders broadly characteristic of Iraqi society for roles in the caretaker government. When it assumes transitional sovereignty, the caretaker government- itself but a step in the transition to representative democracy- will move Iraq toward a parliament of sorts, and elections. Following elections, the Iraqi people will freely govern themselves.
There is much to celebrate, though you would not know it by reading the New York Times. The liberation of Iraq is bearing ripe fruit despite determined efforts by Islamists to make it whither on the vine, and western journalists to see it doing so. A government in the Middle East has voluntarily transferred power to another government! What seems commonplace in America is remarkable in a region where only Israel has a representative government, and where Israel is portrayed as evil by neighboring governments who themselves would not dream of elections.
While much work and many months remain before an Iraqi government is capable of full sovereignty, the transfer of power must have horrified Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In February of this year he wrote a letter to al Qaeda insurgents in Iraq stating, “If, god forbid, the government is successful and takes control of the country, we just have to pack up and go somewhere else again, where we can raise the flag again or die, if god chooses us.”
It is obvious what Zarqawi has to lose. The pessimism of the Times is less easily explained. Success in Iraq is success for President Bush in his bid for reelection. While the Times may claim the mantle of unbiased journalism, their reporting betrays their Democrat loyalties. Rather than focusing on the peaceful transition of power, they focus on the continuing presence and influence of the United States in Iraq. The Times quoted an unnamed diplomat at the United Nations calling the transition “… a charade.” The Times also quoted a European diplomat who said, "It's clear that not only the U.S., but also the U.N., have ambitions for Iraq that are lower and lower by the day."
No doubt, al-Zarqawi would agree.
Posted by publius at June 2, 2004 12:27 AM