Fashioning a Free People

Document Type

Article

Abstract

What makes you think that Iraq can create a democracy?" Three years after the 2003 U.S. invasion, as the Iraqi insurgency was killing civilians at random and a full civil war seemed inevitable, this questioner at a University of Minnesota forum wanted answers. The official from the Bush administration replied that it was our government's position that all people deserve to live under a democracy. Muslims could learn pluralism, added the speaker from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, from the various schools of Islamic jurisprudence. My conclusion: We have no idea how to fashion a free people.

Department(s)

English and Journalism

Publication Title

National Affairs

Volume

No. 34

First Page

161

Last Page

176

Publication Date

Winter 2018

Share

COinS