CIA Elections in Iraq

CIA and the Iraqi Elections -- An idea that's bound to erode trust. Or is it?

Knowing that Iran and neighboring countries have no fetters on their intelligence services' influence on the Iraqi elections, why on Earth would Nacy Pelosi explode at the notion that we should not try to influence them as well? It's a silly idea to let Iraq slip away into Tehran or Damascus' orbit because we hog-tied the CIA with rules that no other nation in the region follows. Fairness is a less well understood concept in some places than in others. Have you ever seen a single-file line in the Middle East? I haven't. Try arguing about fairness to keep people there from pushing to the front: they'll look at you like you had three heads. While elections are not lines, the comparison does show that some of the values that we assume in everyday life in the US are absent in other countries. Fairness is a concept whose shape can and must change to suit the circumstances. In this case, fairness in the cause of democracy means playing by the (lack of) rules that Syria and Iran use.

While I understand some degree of hesitancy from people who fear that the US will seem to be manipulating the elections, that fear is not necessarily justified when influence can extend from overt support of a candidate to covert action of various shades.

I must ask our dear leftist readers to square with me the idea that different cultures have different values and understandings (one of which is that other nations, such as Iran and Syria, are interfering in the election) with the idea that our (the US's) notion of democratic fairplay is the ideal one for Iraq.

I think Pelosi is dangerously wrong on this. The question of democracy in a newly democratic state is not a theoretical thought experiment with abstract notions of fairness dancing in someone's head. Syria and Iran want to control Iraq's future. To have any real hope of a democratic Iraq, it is not enough to speak grandly about democracy -- or scream loudly about the CIA, a la Pelosi -- we must act decisively to secure a friendly government. That doesn't mean fix the election, but it does mean influence it for the better. Pelosi should know this.