US officials rethink hopes for Iraq democracy

Nightmarish political realities in Baghdad are prompting US officials to curb their vision for democracy in Iraq. Instead, the officials now say they are willing to settle for a government that functions and can bring security. A workable democratic and sovereign government in Iraq was one of the Bush administration's stated goals of the war. But for the first time, exasperated front-line US generals talk openly of non-democratic governmental alternatives, and while the two top US officials in Iraq still talk about preserving the country's nascent democratic institutions, they say their ambitions aren't as "lofty" as they once had been. "Democratic institutions are not necessarily the way ahead in the long-term future," said Brig. Gen. John "Mick" Bednarek, part of Task Force Lightning in Diyala province, one of the war's major battlegrounds. Iraqi institutions, from the infrastructure to the national government, are widely regarded as ineffective in the fifth year of the war. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of Task Force Lightning, also reflected a less lofty US goal for Iraq's future. "I would describe it as leaving an effective government behind that can provide services to its people, and security. It needs to be an effective and functioning government that is really a partner with the United States and the rest of the world in this fight against the terrorists," said Mixon, who will not be perturbed if such goals are reached without democracy. "Well, see that all over the Middle East," he said, stating that democracy is merely an option, that Iraqis are free to choose or reject. "But that is the $50,000 question. ... What will this government look like? Will it be a democracy? Will it not?" he asked. Iraqi government officials concede things aren't working, but they say that's because the United States doesn't allow Iraq to really control its own destiny. While the Iraqi government commands its own troops, it cannot send them into battle without US agreement. Iraqi Special Forces answer only to US officers. "We don't have full sovereignty," said Hadi al-Amri, the chairman of parliament's Defense and Security Committee. "We don't have sovereignty over our troops, we don't have sovereignty over our provinces. We admit it." Some senior US military commanders even suggest privately the entire Iraqi government must be removed by "constitutional or non-constitutional" means and replaced with a stable, secure, but not necessarily democratic entity.