Though this is largely going to be preaching to choir,
this story at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting really crystallizes the natural result of Republican policy. Its a common meme from "true" conservatives that Bush isn't really a conservative. Its baloney. Bush stands squarely on the ideology that has been offered for decades.
And Iraq is a perfect demonstration of the ultimate end of those policies. Not just from an American point of view, but one where every day Iraqis get to live in a Republican Ideological Dreamland. Consider this with the lizard brain deep within you:
1) Every Iraqi household is allowed to own one fully automatic AK-47 or equivalent gun. Iraqi's regularly carry concealed pistols and assault rifles for everyday trips. Heck, their are hundreds of tons of
HMX out on the market! An armed society is a polite society.
2) Public education? BAH! Paint all the schools you want, Iraqis are learning better than to send their kids there. If they don't get kidnapped on the way, they could still just get shelled. There is no teacher's union! There are no testing standards!
3) Fundamentalist religion rules the day. Is there really that much difference betwen Sharia and Leviticus? Heck no! Women are kept in their place to do their icky girl things away from society. The rod is not spared, and alcohol is a capital offense. Other religions are treated like the threats they should be. Homosexuals are killed on the spot.
Paradoxically, those who kill gays believe they are acting within the law as the Sharia, which they adhere to, deems homosexuality a crime punishable by death.
In so-called religious courts, supervised by clerics, with no official authority, gays are tried, sentenced to death and then executed by militiamen.
Such courts were first established by Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, father of Muqtada al-Sadr, in 1999 in secret to adjudicate on Islamic issues. Now they are present in many predominantly Shia towns like Ammara, Basra, Ramadi and in several Shia neighbourhoods in Baghdad such as Shu´la, Hurria and Sadr City.
Due to the absence of the state in large areas of the country, these illegitimate courts have gained more and more popular support.
The trials, presided over by young inexperienced clerics, are held in Husseiniyas (Shia mosques), offices of the Sadr movement or, particularly in Shu'la and Sadr City, in ordinary halls. Gays and rapists face anything from 40 lashes to the death penalty
4) See that? THAT's a legal system. None of the silly lawyering games, none of the tedious and costly appeals, none of the whiny protests from criminal rights activists. Kidnapped and beaten, dragged in front of a judge, found guilty and sentenced, shot and dumped in an alleyway; the complete judicial process complete in a day. Law and order society, baby! Look at it in all its glory!
Now look at the "government" legal system. Three years and they still haven't killed Hussein. Know why? That legal system has lawyers.
5) The death penalty can work its anti-crime magic! Self empowered law enforcing citizens can bring criminals in and get results almost instantly! And we can see how well it works from the number of women no longer breaking the law by appearing in public without a gunnysack dress and a proper headscarf. Surely much of the over inflated "murder" rate is due to the natural initial surge of death penalty cases the new legal system is straining under, but I suspect Iraqis are very grateful the US has finally brought effective crimefighting to their country.
6) Taxes? Government Oversight? Welfare Programs? Pshaw. Iraqi's have been given the sweetest gift of all, the ability to stand on their own two feet without government crutches to sap their entrepreneurial spirit. Iraqis are doin' it for themselves! Opportunity abounds, from creating private mercenary services to private police units to private militias for political parties. And even once all those jobs are filled, there are many opportunities provided by US military action for Iraqi's to develop their own rubble clearing, trash clearing, and shanty building businesses. Granted, this has not progressed along as quickly as many conservatives would have thought, but that is certainly due to the culture shock coming from the Hussein led neocommunist "nanny-state" mentality. But those few who have risen from the ashes to build businesses are no doubt grateful that taxes are low to non-existant, and Big Brother isn't telling him how to protect workers or dispose of materials and bodies.
This is a government one could drown in a bathtub. Or at least it could be if the damn government could keep the water running more than a few hours a day.
7) Homosexuals are treated like the deviant abominations good fundamentalist Christians and Muslims know they are. Consider the life of this deviant:
Faris Thamir carefully watches the street in his Al-Batawin neighbourhood, afraid the police or militia men might try to kill him.
In Iraq, where religious radicals consider homosexuality a sin punishable by death, gays have good reason to worry about being "outed".
Thamir, 35, is wary of the extremist Islamic groups that prowl the streets of the capital - but neither does he trust the police who are supposedly there to protect him.
Thamir and other gay men complain about frequent mistreatment by police, accusing them of blackmail, torture, sexual abuse and theft. "Policemen raped me several times at gunpoint and threatened to hand me over to extremist groups if I refuse," said Thamir.
Concern about the involvement of policemen in criminal acts have also been raised by western officials and Sunni Arab leaders who say the Shia-controlled interior ministry has been infiltrated by Shia militias, like the Badr Brigades, who allegedly use their uniforms as cover to kidnap, torture and murder.
Earlier this month, the head of 8th National Police Brigade, one of Baghdad's frontline police units, was detained on suspicion of involvement with sectarian death squads. Several thousand policemen have been dismissed and face prosecution for criminal acts.
Thamir does not count on any official help anymore. After spending a month in prison - during which he said he was tortured and beaten - police continued to pursue him. So he hid at a friend's house - and only dares to go out twice a month, disguised as a woman.
For him, the Saddam era seems like a "golden" time because homosexuality was discreetly tolerated. "Now I am desperate because I expect either to be shot or beheaded at any moment," he said.
The legal situation for gays in Iraq today remains vague. According to research by Södertörn University in Stockholm, it is unclear to date whether a new law on the family, approved by the Interim Governing Council in December 2003, prohibits homosexual activities.
Huh. Pro-Sodom, Pro-Saddam ... you knew it wasn't just a coincidence, right? There is no worry about legalizing gay marriage in Iraq. Heck, they could legalize gay-dragging truck races if they could spare enough gasoline for the effort.
8) Military spending. Ok, they are doing pretty crappy in this department. But its hard to fault them for that, since we did just blow up the part of their military we didn't blow up in 1991. One could argue that the lack of a military industrial complex is actually the missing piece of the Iraqi economy.
Ok, now beat your lizard brains back into their cages, and consider... what part of the Conservative Dream is not perfectly represented in Iraq? If the US military is not stabilizing the country, it is probably due to their coming from such a nanny-state culture while Iraqi's are truely free already. Sure, its Muslim, not Christian, but fundamental(ist)ly, whats the difference in desires and behavior?
This is a well-armed, unregulated, religiously fundamentalist, federalist, lowly taxed, small government society in its natural state. Point that out to every Republican who starts blathering about any of that being needed here.