Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=04/21/03

TYPE=SPECIAL REPORT

TITLE= IRAQ DEMOCRACY

NUMBER=9-27

BYLINE=WILLIAM CHIEN

DATELINE=KUWAIT

UNVOICED:

///EDS: ACTS IN DALET/HOUSE SHARED/MONDAY/9-WCH-KUWAIT-IRAQ DEMOCRACY///

INTRO: To further understand the opinions of scholars in Kuwait in regards to post-war Iraq, Voice of America's William Chien meets Shafiq Ghabra, the president of the American University in Kuwait.

TEXT: Professor Ghabra, at last week's Iraqi Opposition Party conference in Nassiriyah, the U.S. stated its goal is to help leaders and tribal elders in Iraq create a democratic system. How has the Middle East reacted to this?

///GHABRA ACT///

It is clear that the United States takes full responsibility, for the time being, for bringing order and peace to Iraq. Therefore, it does own the Iraqi problem and in many ways it is very essential and basic to the solution that Iraq faces. It has to do with partners and the partners have to be Iraqi people, Iraqi tribes, Iraqi opposition, the Iraqis who have faith in Saddam Hussein. Therefore, I think what America should do is keep trying at all methods and use all capabilities in order to bring about peace in Iraq and protect the sovereignty of Iraq.

///END ACT///

Prof. Ghabra adds that the foundation of Iraq's democracy requires discourse within the disparate collection of Iraqi political groups. It is not enough, he feels, for the Americans to annoint someone like the exiled Iraqi Opposition Party leader, Ahmed Chalabi. Any government leader will need to emerge from an exhaustive and many-layered selection process. This is the democratic process.

///ACT GHABRA///

It is also one of those technical issues that develop over time. I think Iraqi exiles,.it is going to take them some time to understand conditions in Iraq and to prove themselves and to compete. And I believe that many of them will have a role in Iraq because in the end, the exiles have had such exposure to a global world that many Iraqis in Iraq did not have and those Iraqis who stayed in Iraq have the ability to see Iraq from the inside and to live the experience.

///ACT END///

The professor supports having exiled Iraqis involved because they have been in touch with a world that other Iraqis have not experienced. They should consequently have a broader vision. On the other hand, he does not support that exiles should be in control. Their exile has left them out of touch with the domestic situation in Iraq. Equally important, he argues, ordinary people more easily trust Iraqis who have never been to the West.

///ACT GHABRA///

Any future in Iraq will have to be a combination of a significant role from exiles who have seen the world and know their complications and those who stayed in Iraq and know Iraq's politics from the inside. There is lots of time to develop this as you see there will be an interim solution in the beginning. But also the final government, the more permanent constitution, the more permanent will include a combination of people.

///ACT END///

As we talk a commentator on Abu Dabi Television states that the U.S. plan for democracy in Iraq is thorough, but that thorough measures may take too much time. A few minutes later a Saudi Arabian Television station praises the United States and points out that Saddam's legacy of problems cannot be quickly solved.

It is clear that both Professor Ghabra and the international community are closely monitoring the actions of the United States in these first few weeks after the end of the fighting.

(Signed)