bush’s favorite dictatorships
by Stefan Koski
Published: January 29, 2008
If The Beatles believed, “All you need is love,” then Bush’s philosophy is that all you need is democracy. Extremists cannot survive in a country with religious tolerance and an open and free democratic process, or so the theory goes.
While on a tour in the Middle East this past month, Bush was touting his love of peace and democracy everywhere he went. In a grandiose speech from the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, he proudly declared to the people of the Middle East, “A great new era is unfolding before us.”
From all the talk you might believe that Bush is serious about his vision of representative government for all, and he is - just not so serious that he wants to implement it right away.
Democracy, although one of America’s prime exports, is not easily adopted in other parts of the world. Even with all the military operations, crackdowns, cash infusions and troop surges, Iraq is no closer to having a fully representative government than it was four years ago. Its people have voted in an election, but that’s about as far as it has gotten.
The mess in Iraq only goes to show just how inconvenient democracy can be. The goal of a peaceful and free society is nice, but the reality in Iraq has been more or less equal amounts of violence and chaos.
Even when democracy does work, there’s always the risk that the party that gets elected won’t have America’s interests in mind. This is exactly what happened in the West Bank. The Bush Administration said that the future Palestinian state needed to have open and free elections. So they had them. Unfortunately, the party that won a clear majority was Hamas, which the United States designates as a terrorist organization.
In light of this, Bush has gone with plan B: preach democracy, but give public support and money to the countries that can aide U.S. interests. These countries are often not democracies in the slightest.
Saudi Arabia has always been an important ally of both George W. and his father. The country’s support has been integral to launching the military invasions that liberated Kuwait in 1991 and, more recently, toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy ruled by the Sauds, who do not share power with anyone.
Hosni Mubarak, president of Egypt, is another friendly face in the Arab world. He’s done a lot to battle Muslim extremism, albeit partly because it’s in his own self-interests. The Hamas-aligned Muslim Brotherhood Party has been actively seeking ways to take control of the Egyptian government and supporting the U.S. in its hunt for terrorists fits nicely into Mubarak’s political agenda.
Mubarak has also taken a liking to harassing and jailing Egyptians who are trying to push for a more democratic process.
His rival from the 2005 presidential election is still in prison to this day.
Then there is Pakistan’s Perez Musharraf. Often labeled as a “key ally” in the war on terror and someone who has had unwavering U.S. support lavished on him, General Musharraf seized power through a military coup in 1999 and has ruled Pakistan as a dictator ever since. In the past year, he’s been even more concerned with holding onto power than ever, going so far as declaring martial law, suspending the country’s constitution and arresting lawyers, judges and opposing politicians. The 2008 presidential election, originally scheduled for January 8, still hasn’t been held.
When it comes to Bush’s Middle East policy, what he’s saying stands in complete contrast to what he’s been doing. It may be that while he hopes for democracy for all, in the short term it’s more convenient to have non-democratic nations on his side. Or, to put it the way Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, did during an appearance on The Daily Show, “We like democracy in strategically irrelevant countries.”
You might think that it’s a conflict of interest to preach democracy but then prod non-democratic countries for help in the war on terror.
And I’m not going to argue with you.
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