He mentioned a plan set out by World Citizen Foundation and Troy Davis, so I googled and found that Davis has several articles on this subject. And I am reproducing the whole of a WCF proposal from APRIL!! If only someone in the WH or Pentagon had read this and recognized its wisdom. The listing of events that led them to write such a proposal is instructive--it's easy to forget the events of even so short a time ago, and they are being repeated on a larger scale today....
Troy Davis--What Iraq needs (several essays--all worth reading!)
http://troydavis.blogspot.com/World Citizen Foundation, the Democracy Engineers' think-tank -
http://www.worldcitizen.org/ <<<Building Iraqi Democracy
Text for opinion piece (800 words), can be freely used, 2 April 2003.
The war was easy. Now comes the hard part: winning the peace. It is even more true since winning the peace means making an unlikely and unprecedented democratic process work.
Unfortunately, US plans are too slow and timid, and at the same time, too opaque and partisan. Chaos is the consequence of no one legitimate in charge and a process not perceived as legitimate:
- First anti-US demonstrations occur in Baghdad.
- Two Shiite leaders are killed by a mob in a mosque in Najaf, the world’s holiest Shia city
- US-sanctioned meetings of arbitrarily chosen Iraqis in Nassyria are the target of angry demonstrations
- Looters rob and pillage Baghdad and Basra, vandalize museums, and destroy humanity’s heritage.
- Militias defend stores and houses (Saddam distributed 2 M guns to Baghdadis)
- Kurds enter Kirkouk in defiance of Turkish warnings that this would be a casus belli. (There need be only acts of retribution against Turcomans for explosive consequences).
Iraqis want to see progress towards a government now - not in 6 months’s time. What are present plans? Europe has no concrete plans apart from abstract principles and a «central role » for the U.N.
The U.S. (via M. Wolfowitz) says it is a 3-step process. The actual building of the government is supposed to occur by some unexplained process after numerous « regional meetings » of arbitrarily selected Iraqis. Then, again by some magic wand and under arbitrary ground rules, a provisional constitution is written, local elections are held. Finally national elections for a real constitutional convention occur. During that time, General Garner is Viceroy of Iraq and arbitrarily selected Iraqis run parallel ministries.
This is a recipe for anger, envy, resentment and corruption. It is the worst possible way of building a democracy which must be perceived as clean, fair, open and legitimate. This bumbling already feeds anti-democratic and anti-American rethoric.
This plan has many problems:
· It is contrived and complicated.
· It is too slow and leisurely.
· It is already fiercely contested on the ground.
· It weakens the prospects for a widely legitimate authority that can prevent chaos.
· It forgets that there has not been true dialogue among Iraqi political movement at least for 30 years
· It forgets the need for a cathartic process – a process that will heal divisions and create national reconciliation between locals and exiles.
Those plans put the cart before the horse and forget the most important in democracy-building: the consent of the governed. Representative self-government means the People must believe in the legitimacy of the process.
The solution is not to let the bureaucratic UN run the show. The best solution may look like a compromise, but it is the best anyway.
It is a simple bold idea : immediately organize a constitutional convention, which would also serve as Iraq’s first forum for national democratic dialogue. (This might produce national political catharsis in a country desperately in need of it.)
The participants should be delegates from all ethnic and religious groups, all political parties inside and outside Iraq. Better have ‘too many’ delegates than too few. Iraqi, regional, and global stability are at that price.
For credibility’s sake, it should not be convened by the US alone, but jointly with the UK, France, Germany and Russia, with the EU and UN as observers (and with help from democracy engineering consultants). It is important for global credibility that the USA magnanimously allow antiwar governments to co-sponsor it. This will help President Bush defend his claims that the US has no imperial designs and is not in Iraq to colonize it.
Out of selfish interest to spread political risk, the US should allow others to co-sponsor the political convention even if it decides to punish them economically. The political convention is a separate issue from reconstruction contracts. But France and Germany could be asked to pick up the entire tab. The co-sponsors could include Turkey and Iran to increase regional commitment to a free, sovereign and united Iraq.
To maximize credibility and minimize manipulation, it should be totally open to the media. There might be 500 delegates but thousands of journalists. It should be broadcast live on Iraqi TV. Tens of millions worldwide, especially Muslims, will follow a riveting political reality show.
Congress should vocally support this proposal. It is not unpatriotic to propose a broad-based, open constitutional process. It is quintessentially fair and should prove more popular than today’s complicated plan.
The convention could start on 25 May in a nod to 25 May 1787 when the Founders met in Philadelphia. It took Americans over 3 months to create their constitution. If the aim is truly to create the first Arab democracy, don’t the Iraqis deserve today as much time as the Americans had 216 years ago?
Historical note:
25 May 1787: Constitutional Convention assembles in Philadelphia
26 July: start of recess (2 months later, lasts 10 days))
6 August: start of second session
17 September: Approval of the final constitution, delegates sign it and Convention adjourns.
Total time: 3 months and 3 weeks with a recess of 10 days>>>
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