Iraq Study Group: “Antidemocratic”

An article in the Christian Science Monitor by Andrew Bacevich, professor of history and international relations at Boston University, calls the Iraq Study Group “antidemocratic.” Bacevich says the group is in place largely to keep citizens’ demands about the war at bay.

Which does beg the question, where has all that citizen anger that was demonstrated on a global scale before the United States invasion of Iraq all gone to? While the war is being widely criticized by media and politicians, voices of dissent in the general public have been quiet. Even after the deadliest month of combat for both American troops and Iraqi civilians, there were no major protests, marches or public outcries calling for an end to the war (with the exception of a Cindy Sheehan led protest on the steps of the Whitehouse that resulted in her arrest on Nov. 9).

Perhaps, as Bacevich suggests, Americans assume the government will take care of it. Or, they are overwhelmed at how badly things have gone. Politicians recently traveling to Iraq experienced shock and awe of their own. After a recent visit to Iraq, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said: “(The Iraqi government) seems to be caught in a crossfire of sectarian angst and violent actions. It’s a dangerous environment that will continue to escalate in the weeks ahead.”