Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

The discovery of a secret jail where some 173 Iraqis were tortured should put to rest any notions that importing American Brand Freedom has succeeded in Iraq. Initial reports revealed that the torture chambers were filled mainly with Sunni Iraqis.  The backlash to this revelation was so severe, that the Iraqi government backtracked today saying that the secret prison population was "diverse."

2,077 American soldiers have been killed.  Some 16,000 have been injured.  All the time, the promise made to them is that they are fighting for a "noble cause."  A "better Iraq" and a "democratic state." Our soldiers have died for nothing but a lie. Yes, they can waive as many goddamn purple fingers as they want, they can have all the "good news" tours they want, but the undisputed fact is that the new Iraq is just like the old Iraq--unstable, brimming with blood, and souless.

This secret prison is not the only incident reminiscent of pre-"Shock & Awe" Iraq:

Sunni politician Omar Hujail, of the Iraqi Islamic Party, said it was not the only place where Sunni Arabs were held and tortured. "We have been telling them for ages that there are people wearing the uniforms of the Interior Ministry raiding houses at night and arresting people, but everybody denied it." link

Sunnis have long alleged that units of the security forces, particularly the Shia-dominated Interior Ministry, have committed human rights abuses against residents of Sunni Arab areas, including mass arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killing. link

"That torture is still practiced in Iraq after Saddam Hussein, that is no secret," [U.N. Human Rights Commission Member ] Nowak said a telephone interview from Vienna, Austria. "It is shocking, but on the other hand, we have received allegations of these secret places in Iraq already for quite a long time." link

Is this what American blood was spilled for? Replacing one corrupt government with another? Is this why our fellow citizens died, to set up a new government which implement the old ideology of quashing dissent and eroding human rights?

So, let's keep score, shall we?  This "new Iraq" empolys torture chambers.  This "new Iraq" conducts secret raids and mass, arbitrary arrests.  This "new Iraq," if you'll recall, is an Islamic state:

Islam is the official religion of the State and is to be considered a source of legislation.  No law that contradicts the universally agreed tenets of Islam, the principles of democracy, or the rights cited in Chapter Two of this Law may be enacted during the transitional period. link

Almost three years of hell for our soldiers and our nation and that is the end-product: an Islamic state, with torture chambers, on the brink of civil war, unable to secure its own cities.  The Iraqi government is like parasite feeding off of American money and lives.  They're trying, no doubt, to fix that hellhole.  But their incompetence and inexperience in implementing an actual democracy, coupled with their inability to slash ties with scum like Chalabi have resulted in this "new Iraq" being weak and clinging desparately to American presence and influence.

Iraq is a failed experiment.  The hypothesis that importing democracy--our style of democracy--without allowing that change to eminate from the populace itself would be successful has failed. I agree with the President when he said the Iraqi people "deserve better than tyranny and corruption and torture chambers."  The Iraqi government has failed the Iraqi people, and no amount of spilled American blood or squandered American resources can change that.