Bush’s Plan for Democracy in Iraq – Duplicate American Abuses

George W. Bush wants democracy for Iraq. But the democracy Bush has in mind is not a democracy of the people. It is a democracy focused on the executive administration of Iraq, appointed by America and favoring American interests. The last thing George W. Bush wants to see is an Iraq with actual representation of the desires and well-being of the people of Iraq.

We have an ongoing situation in America that demonstrates the way Bush and his crew want democracy to operate in Iraq. The situation involves petroleum and energy, which are the focal points for economic imperatives both in America and Iraq. America needs a plentiful supply of cheap energy for its economy to grow. America’s economy cannot prosper if it is not growing; an economy that is not growing is called "stagnant" in America. Iraq’s prime source of national wealth is the petroleum provided by nature under its borders.

America claims to be a democracy and most Americans believe they live in a democracy, which is supposedly a system of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Americans are led to believe that government bases its policies and actions on the expressed desire of the American people. But the energy policies of the Bush administration are clearly an exception to this concept. Not only has the Bush administration failed to consult the people on its policies, but the Bush administration has refused to even inform the American people of its deliberations regarding the setting of energy policy. The Bush administration feels that the executive branch of American government has every right to keep its motives, goals, deliberations, and policies completely secret from the American people.

How could this be in a democracy? Why were the American people excluded from all the deliberations regarding energy policy? How could American energy policy under Bush ever represent the will of the people, when not even the Congress had access to the debate/discussions/deliberations of the executive branch?

Could it be that the Bush administration was seeking the interests, not of the people, but of the corporate elite, particularly in the energy sector?

Now that Bush has appointed an interim government to rule Iraq, there is every reason to believe that the appointed government, which is hardly an expression of democracy in Iraq, will yield, not to the interests of the Iraqi people, but to the interests of the executive, non-democratic, appointocracy. There is no reason to believe that the new interim Iraqi government will be any more transparent about energy matters than the Bush administration is. There is every reason to believe that the interim government in Baghdad will follow the example of the Bush administration and stymie democracy, not practice it.

No matter how strong the denials, we know that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq was energy (oil) related. No doubt the secret energy policy meetings chaired by Vice-President Dick Cheney involved war planning.

Democracy was not allowed to operate in these critical areas of war and economics. If democracy was not part of this process in the most important decision making of the Bush administration, is America REALLY a democracy? Can democracy ever work when the public is left uninformed, and out of the decision-making process>

Is there any reason to believe a democracy installed in Iraq by the Bush Administration will be any more "people friendly" than American democracy?

Democracy based on deceit and obfuscation is not democracy. Democracy without public participation and public discussion and debate is a fraud. Americans who willingly tolerate the operations of a government with such a sorry record are harming the republic and reducing it to an oligarchy.

Time will tell whether American democracy will be healed and restored, or whether election of the Bush administration brings an end to democracy as we have known it. Assuming an accurate vote tally in the next electronic election, the American people have the power to restore democracy to America. If democracy wins in America, and the American people are better informed in the future on matters of critical national importance, the future of Iraq holds promise of meeting the needs of the Iraqi people. If Bush is elected in 2004, democracy will be further harmed in America and will never have a legitimate chance in Iraq.

George W. Bush is not a Democrat, nor is a practitioner of democracy. In a significant way, the fate of a democratic America and the world lies in the balance in the upcoming election.