December 17, 2005

A Word from Zach Wamp

A Fulcrum for Democracy in the Cradle of Humanity

The Iraq Parliamentary Elections that took place Thursday will go down as a very important day in the history of the Middle East.

In fact, when the history of the new Iraq is written Thursday’s elections may go down as one of the seminal events in the history of the civilized world.

Despite the detractors of U.S. involvement and the naysayers of the ability of an Arab country to adopt truly democratic institutions, Iraq has had three historic and hugely successful elections this year - 8.5 million voted in the January elections, almost 10 million voted in the October referendum on the new constitution, and estimates are that 70 percent of registered Iraqis voted in Thursday’s parliamentary elections.

I think it can now be said that Iraq is clearly working its way towards a representative system through which the citizens govern themselves because by every measurement and standard, the parliamentary selections were a very successful election.

Some of the things that I think we need to highlight are that the Sunnis participated in large numbers, and in the Sunni Triangle election security was actually carried out by the Iraqi people themselves. The Marines were not there. They were actually intentionally staying out of the way so that the Iraqis could secure their own elections because this election was not about the United States, it was about Iraqi people electing a parliament and taking over the government themselves.

That is a very, very important development. Their democratic government may not be just like the one United States of America, but having removed the tyrant dictator and having given them an opportunity for self-government, they have literally picked up the ball and are running with it. To watch them for the third time this year participate in a nationwide vote in far larger numbers than any U.S. election and putting themselves into a dangerous environment to go out and do it has to be an encouragement to everyone, regardless of how they feel about U.S. involvement in Iraq.

In addition, the impressive performance of Iraqi police and security forces should begin the process of how we evaluate just how much military and law-enforcement responsibility we can turn over to the Iraqis. Despite the hand-wringing by armchair generals on Sunday talking-head shows, they don’t have to be perfectly prepared; they just have to be willing, ready and able – slowly – to take over the security of their own country.

This past election’s security is a very good sign that we are going in the right direction and I want to thank our troops – men and woman in harms way on our behalf – for doing the important work of training Iraqi recruits and courageously going forward with them in the field to help them gain the unwavering confidence of a professional security force.

I often watch our troops in the field on television and the interviews asking them how they feel about their involvement there are just amazing. Even when confronted by the secular press prying for a story of heartbreak and defeatism they are very upbeat.

I don’t know that we get an accurate view through the national media about what is really happening in Iraq. The troops are certainly upbeat and positive about it even though they have lost friends and comrades. What should come through more often than it does is that they are professional soldiers – the best in the world – and they understand the price of freedom is high and it always has been.

Still, we don’t hear about them enough in the news. The media doesn’t seem interested in venturing out of their Baghdad hotels to cover the civic projects they complete to provide sewer, potable water, electricity and classrooms to grateful Iraqis. Rather, reporters there seem all too quick to breathlessly transmit a second-hand story about the carnage of a roadside bomb incident that took place many miles away from their comfortable hotel rooms.

Despite slights of that nature, our generation once again is standing up and our men and women in uniform deserve 100-percent support in this country. We need to stand behind them so we can come out of Iraq victorious – there is no other option.

We cannot in any way pull back, but with Thursday’s performance I now believe we can take begin the process of determining at what points in time we can turn more and more of the country’s security over to them.

It is also pretty obvious here that the Sunnis, Shia and the Kurds are going to work together somewhat and not have a fear that the majority might be in someway punitive towards the minority or that their might be retribution against the Sunnis, because the Sunnis are now participating and that is maybe the best development of this election.

But this is no time for relaxation and self-congratulation, we need to go forward and I am proud the president is standing his ground because this, literally, can change the world.

The Middle East is a trouble spot, and in order for it to change for the better the people there need to have a taste of freedom. Because of American leadership, the Iraqi people now taste more and more freedom every day.

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The author, Congressman Zach Wamp of Chattanooga, Represents the Third District of Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives.