Rethinking Iraq: Time for American Muslims to Support Iraqi Democracy

By Shadi Hamid

There is a part of me that still is and will always be against the Iraq war. However noble the ends, the means will always be wrapped in a cloud of moral ambiguity. I remain, in every sense of the word, conflicted. I remember in the early spring of 2003, empowered by the heady idealism of a young activist, I committed myself to the cause in which I so emphatically believed in. Feverishly, we organized against a war we felt was unjust, immoral, illegal, and destructive. Those were times of a bygone age, times when we could still afford to believe in a world free of hatred, violence, and – yes – war.

Not quite even realizing it, it seemed as if we had become perennial protestors, angry at the world but helpless to change it. By opposing and resisting the “system” at every turn, we thought we could change it. Looking back, I think we were wrong.

Our goal, naturally, was to stop the war before it started (or perhaps we were just being naïve). As millions throughout the world flooded the streets in solidarity, it seemed – if only for a brief instant – that we might succeed.

On January 30, 2005, I saw something which would shatter any remaining illusions that opposing war in Iraq was the only moral position to take. Checking the news headlines online in my apartment in Jordan, I saw heart-wrenching pictures of thousands of Iraqis lining up, braving terrorist threats, to vote for the first time in their lives. These days, it is truly rare to be overwhelmed by hope but overwhelmed I was. In a hundred years, I expect – and I pray – that future generations will look back at January 30th as a historic moment, a moment that would forge the identity and aspirations of a people. For more than five decades, the Arab people have been denied their freedom by their own leaders as well as by Western powers, the latter fearing that free elections would lead to hostile bands of nationalists, leftists, or, now, Islamists coming to power.

The very thought of Iraqis voting after the unceremonious toppling of a most brutal dictator was both subversive and revolutionary. Millions of Arabs throughout the region, saw the same images on their television screens via satellite channels such as Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiyya. For those who dared comprehend the moment, the wall of Arab autocracy was being broken down before their eyes.

Of course, the negative aspects of the Iraq war (and there are many) should give even the most fervent supporters of regime change pause. Hundreds of Americans and thousands of Iraqis have died, cities have been destroyed, and America’s credibility further eroded by the horror of Abu Ghraib. History has recorded these crimes committed in the name of Iraqi freedom.

In any case, as American Muslims we now have a choice. It is not an easy one, but it is one that we must nonetheless ponder, for our actions – or, more appropriately, our silence – will have consequences. The war itself is over. The past is gone and we can no longer take solace in the empty chants of anti-war protestors who seem woefully unaware of the exigencies of political reality. The emotive chants of “bring the troops home” are at best laughably naïve, and at worst downright offensive. If we withdraw now, Iraq will continue its tragic descent into anarchy. And then civil war and failed state status will be its fate. That much should be obvious.

The new Iraqi government does not have the capability to effectively put down the increasingly emboldened insurgents on its own. It needs American and international support – and firepower. The insurgency, or the “resistance” as some so disingenuously call it, aims through its terror campaign to derail one of the most noble experiments of our time – the cause of Iraqi democracy. So then, there is a question that each Muslim needs to ask him/herself. Do we wish to see Iraq ravaged by civil war or do we wish to see Iraq fulfill its promise, and become the first true Arab democracy, a model of inspiration in what is still the most authoritarian region in the world? Let us put our dislike of Bush and his coterie of warmongering, torture-condoning neo-cons on the side, and focus on what is really important – the future of our Iraqi brothers and sisters, who deserve nothing less than to live as free citizens, free from the evils of autocracy and the scourge of terrorism.

Every morning, I brace myself for the inevitable headlines – more Iraqis dead, more American soldiers killed in combat. We have paid an enormous price with the blood of innocents. It no longer matters whether the war was unjust or just. These debates, while interesting and at times thought provoking, have a tendency to become, in the wrong hands, intellectually masturbatory and philosophically indulgent. More importantly, such debates are not particularly relevant to the immense challenges we now face. Many of us were against the war. Some were for it. Some find ourselves stuck somewhere in between. Yet it is time now to put past disagreements behind us and unite in common cause and solidarity for the welfare of the Iraqis.

We all too easily take refuge in the pieties of protest, thinking that we have done our days work and spoken out against the perpetual straw men of empire and occupation. And, indeed, our rage might be well served by shallow rhetoric and self-pitying indignation. But, this is not the time for such selfishness or silence in the face of greater threats. There is a war currently underway between those who engage in the wanton killing of innocents in the name of “resistance” and those who wish to see the Iraqi people move courageously toward a free, dignified, and democratic future. And, I suspect that this time around, the moral position is a clear one – or at least it should be. There are some things in life, politics, and war which are morally ambiguous. This, however, is not one of them.

Shadi Hamid is a Fulbright Fellow in Amman, Jordan, conducting research on democratization and political Islam. His articles have appeared most recently, in the Carnegie Endowment’s Arab Reform Bulletin, The Daily Star, and The Jerusalem Post. He can be reached at sh75@georgetown.edu.