SENTINEL WATCH May 5, 2003 Issue

To help restore Iraq

By Richard A. Nenneman

As the war in Iraq appears near closure, one's attention naturally turns to the need to reconstruct, or restore, what has been lost. To restore something means to give it back, ot return it to its original position. Of course that applies both to the physical structure of this ancient Bible land, which includes the historic site of Babylon, and to the morale of its people, who have lived under a particularly sordid kind of tyranny.

While the restoration of physical property is expensive but relatively easy to accomplish, the restoration of a people is another matter. Americans in particular may have to foot most of the bill for physical reconstruction, but it will be the privilege of thinking people everywhere to participate in the restoration of the Iraqis.

This concept of restoration should make us consider what really is the natural, or normal, state of the Iraqi people. If we assume that they are destined, within a few years, to have multiple political parties, regular elections, and become a smaller reflection of what Americans or Britons call democracy, it would be helpful to remember that every society evolves at least somewhat from its past. And the Iraqi past consists not only of a tyrant dictator, but also in being a portion of the world of Islam, in which the values that the West esteems most highly are not necessarily given the same priority.