Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=05/03/03

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ/THEOCRACY

NUMBER=5-53745

BYLINE=MIKE MORAVITZ

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Recent demonstrations in Iraq calling for the establishment of an Islamic state have led to concern among some officials and observers in Washington about the possibility of an Iranian-style theocracy. In this background report, V-O-A's Mike Moravitz examines the U-S views.

TEXT: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing last month that an Iranian-style government in Iraq would not be permitted.

/// RUMSFELD ACTUALITY ///

A vocal minority clamoring to transform Iraq in Iran's image will not be permitted to do so. We will not allow the Iraqi people's democratic transition to be hijacked by those who might wish to install another form of dictatorship.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

But the possibility that a religious government with its base in the Shi'ite majority could be elected has sparked debate in Washington. Secretary of State Colin Powell recently suggested an Islamic government can also be democratic.

Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle, who currently serves on an influential Pentagon advisory panel, told the C-B-S television network recently that the United States would have to accept a religious government that was democratically elected.

/// PERLE ACTUALITY ///

If we want, as I believe we must, democratic rule in Iraq, then we will have to accept the consequences of freely chosen leaders by the Iraqis. That's where legitimacy lies, not in some bureaucracy either from New York or elsewhere, but in what the people of Iraq want for themselves.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

Mr. Perle said U-S officials should seek to bolster democratic forces in Iraq to prevent the establishment of a religious dictatorship. But he said a religious-based government in Iraq does not necessarily have to be extremist or undemocratic.

/// PERLE ACTUALITY ///

I think the Iraqis are going to prefer a state in which people enjoy real individual freedom, in which they are not oppressed by the extreme forms of Islamist thought /// OPT /// -- for example, the Wahabi-Saudi-propagated form of Islam, which preaches hatred of the west, which preaches jihad, or holy war. It doesn't have to be that kind of state. /// END OPT /// And I very much hope, and I think most Iraqis hope, that it will be a real democracy, in which all the people of Iraq can profess their religion freely, and live in real freedom.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

Senator Joseph Lieberman of New Jersey agrees that the United States needs to work with Iraqis to ensure a democratic government. The Senator, who is running for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, also spoke to C-B-S recently.

/// LIEBERMAN ACTUALITY ///

We don't want this to turn into a theocracy. In some ways, the Shi'ia Muslims, for instance, never had freedom of religion under Saddam Hussein ... And I think, what we want to help them do now is build a country, in which all forms of Islam, all forms of all religions can be respected, and not have freedom compromised in any way. That's the challenge we have. But it's one, I think, that the majority of Iraqis will support, and ultimately, they're the ones who will make the decision.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

Overall, U-S officials and policy analysts agree that they do not want to see a religious dictatorship established in Iraq. However, debate continues over whether a democratically elected religious government would be acceptable to the United States. (SIGNED)

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