Patrick McDonald, whose regular job is with the Elections Division of the Washington Secretary of State's office, is a member of a 200 member Washington National Guard unit that just returned from a second tour of duty in Iraq--helping train elections officials and providing logistics for its Iraqi hosts. Master Sergeant McDonald has two Purple Hearts from his tour three years ago, but this time he came home in much better shape, healthy and happy. Among the things he told us in a speech this week at Discovery Institute:
* Safety is much improved, despite the recent violent bombings. You can drive from the airport ("Route Irish") without fearing for your life, you can shop on Haifa Street, you can dine out--unless you look like a really good target. A few years ago, none of this was possible.
* The crucial oil industry has recovered to pre-invasion levels of production and shipment, about two and a half million barrels a day, enough to fuel many of the needs of the new government.
* Electricity is up to about 20 hours a day, far better than even under Saddam--before the war.
* A population that was cut off from communications with the outside world under Saddam now enjoys cable television from many sources--dishes grow out of every roof, like the U.S. in the 50s--and the cellular phone revolution has just jumped over the land-line stage.
* News coverage is becoming more responsible. Even Al Jazeera seems to have matured a bit. Iraqis are becoming wise to the ways of journalism and journalists, which makes them more sophisticated news consumers. Rumors are rife, but not as likely to be believed as was the case four or five years ago.
Filling out a ballot (with a little help from an old Saddam statue)
The coming elections are signs of distress because Al Qaida and the Iran-backed Sadrists are fearful of total eclipse. But they also are signs of ultimate hope. Parties are becoming less uniform religiously, which builds understanding and tolerance.
Elections are more centralized than in Afghanistan, for one comparison, partly because Iraq's population is 80 percent urban, while Afghanistan's is 80 percent rural. There are 6,200 polling sites in Iraq versus 14,000--and those far flung--in Afghanistan.
We need to show appreciation for the Americans in uniform who have worked and sacrificed to make democracy a reality in Iraq--facilitating rather than overpowering local politics and politicians. The same goes for the Republican and Democratic parties' international democracy institutes that have helped the Iraqi parties learn how to organize and get their voters out. The United Nations deserves a bow, too, thanks largely to the highly professional Australians in their teams who helped monitor the recent elections.
The Iraqis were looking for a slogan last year. Patrick McDonald thought of one used recently in Washington State: "Your Vote is Your Voice." Pretty soon Patrick saw it on billboards--in Arabic--and an Iraqi official guilelessly described it as an idea of their own. Why not?
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