Another Crimp In Iraq’s “Democracy”

I don’t know if it’s still the case, but when I was an “expat” working in Saudi Arabia, one could not travel to Israel, show evidence of such a visit in your passport, and still hope to be able to return to Saudi Arabia.

But, then again, we have not spilled the precious blood of our young men and women in the sands of Arabia, nor squandered our resources to bring democracy and liberty to that country.

It is a different story in Iraq. We all know the high price we have paid in lives, injuries and resources to supposedly do exactly that: bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people.

That’s why a buried headline in my local newspaper, “Iraqi lawmaker may face charges for counterterrorism trip to Israel,” caught my attention this morning.

Apparently a Sunni Arab politician, Mithal al-Alusi, who visited Israel to attend a counter-terrorism conference last month may face felony charges for visiting Israel.

Apparently, in this country where over 4,000 of our finest have made the ultimate sacrifice to bring democracy there, travel to Israel is illegal and, “a humiliation for Iraqis, who see Israel as a longtime enemy.”

Apparently, this is not the first time that Mithal al-Alusi has dared to visit Israel:

It was his third trip to the Jewish state since 2004. The first got him evicted from the post he had held in Iraq’s first post-Saddam Hussein government and earned him the wrath of many Iraqis, as well as a host of assassination attempts. One of those ended with his two sons dying in a hail of bullets in 2005.

Apparently, bringing democracy and freedom to Iraq does not include the expectation that its people will be free to travel, to freely associate, and to forego their hate for Israel and its people.

Apparently, as shown by constraints on human rights, women’s rights, religious rights, and many other rights—such as the treatment of homosexuals—the “democracy” our troops have been fighting for in Iraq is very narrowly defined.