Mideast May Find New Hope With Hussein’s Capture

The capture of Saddam Hussein could be a turning point in the U.S. war on terrorism. Properly handled, it may restore momentum to flagging U.S. efforts to establish a stable democracy in Iraq. In addition, a Hussein trial might end, once and for all, the divisive and enervating argument over whether the war was justified in the first place. Above all, Hussein’s capture and possible trial might become a new symbol of hope throughout the Middle East, hope that tyranny ultimately fails. Much, however, depends on how the U.S. moves from here.

One of the weapons in Al Qaeda’s arsenal is the widespread feeling in the Muslim world that its rulers are corrupt and tyrannical. The effective disenfranchisement of most Muslims living in “managed democracies” -- or overt oligarchies or monarchies -- creates an attentive audience for Osama bin Laden’s calls for jihad. One of Bin Laden’s reasons for attacking the United States is its continuing support for such regimes. It isn’t primarily a struggle about the distribution of wealth. There are, after all, many countries in the world less well off than, say, Saudi Arabia. It’s a struggle about the distribution of liberty.

All this makes Iraq central to the “war on terror.” By invading the country, President Bush bet that he could destroy one of the standard-bearers of Arab tyranny and replace him with a stable democracy. There is virtually no historical precedent for this in the Muslim states of the Middle East. Most Muslims have been able to choose only among varieties of despotism, and Bin Laden’s theocracy might seem no worse to them than most. This lack of political options is a key element of Bin Laden’s appeal.

If the U.S. succeeds in establishing democracy in Iraq, the situation would be fundamentally altered. No longer could Bin Laden claim that democracy was unsuitable for Muslims and could not work within the Umma, as the Islamic world calls itself. He would be forced to compare his authoritarian Islamic creed not just with tyrants and corrupt despots but also with liberty. That would be a much more difficult task. A democratic Iraq would thus undermine one of Bin Laden’s central arguments. Failure to establish a stable democracy in Iraq, on the other hand, would add new power to Bin Laden’s claims and new momentum to his movement.

It is unfortunate that this larger issue in the war against terrorism has been obscured by the debate over the legitimacy of the war. Critics who have fixed on the failure so far to find weapons of mass destruction as evidence of a Bush deception miss this point. Removing one of the worst regimes of all time, one that traded in death and torture, sends a strong signal to corrupt and authoritarian Arab and Muslim governments that reform may be the better part of wisdom. Reform is bad news for Bin Laden and his terrorist network.

With the stakes so high, failure in Iraq is unthinkable. The question should be: What must we do now to win? The capture of Hussein has demoralized the Baathists and provided useful intelligence about their operations. It may be that, in the short term, more U.S. troops need to be sent to Iraq to take the fullest possible advantage of this development. We should not begrudge those forces to this mission, or be reluctant to send them simply because we want to pull out eventually. The worst possible thing we could do would be to hand over to a new Iraqi government its sovereignty -- and a continuing insurgency.

Second, we must break through the bureaucratic logjams that have prevented U.S. agencies in Iraq from spending the money already allocated to that country. Over the last few weeks, there have been numerous reports of this problem. The recent resignation of hundreds of Iraqis from the Iraqi army that the Bush administration is counting on to provide security highlights this foolish niggardliness. Now isn’t the time to scrutinize every expenditure, to maximize efficiency, to try to save money. You shouldn’t put a dollar value on establishing a stable, democratic Iraq. With Hussein caught, we should open the coffers and show the Iraqis we are willing to invest in their future -- and ours.

Finally, we should let other leaders of the Muslim and Arab world know that the days of stable despotism in the Middle East and beyond are drawing to a close. Popular pressure to open political and economic processes will steadily increase. Al Qaeda will continue its attacks, hoping in part to draw reactions that will further alienate the people of these states from their governments. The only way to break this cycle is for the leaders to begin reforming peacefully, before they must try to reform in the midst of violence. The repeated images of Hussein on trial before his people for his crimes against them should provide an excellent talking point in these discussions.