Abstract

Can Democracy Survive Bush's Embrace?

Faced with an Arab world enraged by its occupation of Iraq and its blind support for Israel, the US solution is not to change these brutal policies; it is to "change the story." Brand USA's latest story was launched on January 30, the day of the Iraqi elections, complete with a catchy tag line ("purple power"), instantly iconic imagery (purple fingers) and, of course, a new narrative about America's role in the world. Terrified at the prospect of an Iraq ruled by Iraqis, former chief US Envoy Paul Bremer designed elections that gave the US-friendly Kurds 27 percent of the seats in the National Assembly even though they make up as little as 15 percent of the population. The US-Kurdish alliance has handed Washington a backdoor veto over Iraq's democracy. Freedom and democracy need to be liberated from U.S. President George W. Bush's deadly embrace and returned to the movements of the Middle East that have been struggling for these goals for decades.