June 26, 2006

Dear Colleague,

    After several months of bad news from Iraq, there was at last a turn for the better when prime minister Maliki managed to fill his two key ministerial posts, thus completing the cabinet, and American bombs killed al-Zarqawi who inspired the most deadly insurgencies in Iraq. Bush took advantage of this slight upturn by flying into Baghdad, known to only a handful of his inner circle, to put his arm (so to speak) around the shoulder of the Iraqi prime minister in big-brotherly approval. This event gave Bush a boost—he never looked happier on TV—and also a boost in his approval ratings in the United States. In Baghdad, Bush made the case for the umpteenth time that things are improving and will improve faster now that Iraq has a permanent government. And he let it be known, over and over again, that this government was elected by the people of Iraq, that it was the independent government of an independent country.

    But how is it—and here I am genuinely puzzled—that no one has pointed out that Bush's show in Baghdad may as well have been master-minded by bin Laden? If there is any message that bin Laden wants to convey above all else, it is that Iraq is an American colony and that the Maliki government is a puppet government, answerable to the American embassy located next door. In my fantasy scenario, I imagine bin Laden pondering deeply in his desert hide-out on how to make this view of reality maximally convincing to the Islamic world. He shouts, Eureka! Here is his plan. Have the American president go to the capital of Iraq without the Iraqi government's permission or even knowledge! Have Bush arrive in the Green Zone and summon Maliki and his cabinet to his presence, giving them only fifteen minutes to do so; surely not much longer, for Maliki didn't even know Big Brother was coming until he was at his doorstep. Can you imagine this happening to a truly independent country? What would the President of France say if the President of the United States lands at the Elysée Palace as though Elysée were just an outhouse of the White House?

    America, to its credit, is sacrificing blood and money to establish a democracy in Iraq. Can it be done? Can a democracy be established by an external power? The answer is yes, and the example is Japan. Japan is a democracy, one that owes its existence to American power. Two reasons for success are: although Japan was never a democracy, it has been a unified country for a long time. The other reason is that America wisely kept Hirohito, the Japanese emperor, on the throne. This gave the Japanese the feeling that, yes, everything was changing, but, no, a basic of symbol of society remained intact. Now, in the twenty-first century, both America and Japan want Japan to be militarily stronger and more assertive to serve as a counter-weight to the rising power of China. If Japan does become again a military super-power in Asia—if not in the world—can it be that the Imperial Mystique that America left intact will play a part?

Best wishes,

Yi-Fu