My father has sent me two thick envelopes with newspaper clippings from the Dutch press, arguing, debating and analyzing the situation in Iraq with a focus on the justification for going to war. The arguments against are well documented and I will not bore you with the endless analyses of US and UK intelligence reports, WMDs or the possible al-Qaeda connection and how a segment of the European press has documented these over the past few months. As I have said before, both Blair and Bush were right but they could have made their case better. Flipping through all the clippings my dad sent me, I did find some interesting stuff, some of it encouraging, some of it evidence of Europe’s continued mode of denial.

There continues to be a notion that it is impossible to bring democracy to a country like Iraq and that, in addition to all the other reasons, the whole effort was ill-defined from the very start and that the chances of bringing stability and freedom to Iraq are wishful American thinking. Maybe, but that does not mean we should not try. Establishing democracy was one of the miscommunications by the Bush team as they instead should have focused on establishing the rule of law. The rule of law, whether it find its legitimacy in a good functioning democracy yes or no, is a prerequisite for restoring civil society in Iraq while at the same time neutralizing any players that seek to destabilize the country and neighboring countries. It is frustrating to see that there continues to be a strong lobby against helping out coalition forces rebuilding Iraq by endlessly referring back to the past, similar to those pre-war objections to remove Saddam with the argument that the West put him in place and that he was an erstwhile ally. Did that mean that we should not have done anything?

What is encouraging though is that many in Europe realize that there is no quick fix in Iraq and that it in the interest of many in the West to pitch in and help rebuild the country. One of the clippings referred to the fact that even the European left is coming to its senses with this great quote from the Dutch NRC Handelsblad:

Even the left-wing parties in Europe are, after a long period of doubt coming to the conclusion that there is a problem if people advocate that a good westerner is a dead one.

The deadly attack on UN headquarters today highlights that the terrorists do indeed not make any distinction between US, UN or UK representatives. The bombing is evidence that if we fail to build up this country and pull out in the face of terror and instability the place may very well destabilize even further and become a breeding ground for terrorism for years to come. We can not flinch, if we do we give Islamist terror their greatest victory on a platter. In a way the attack on the UN underlines the need for all nations that are willing and able to get in and help get Iraq back on its feet again, if there ever is a so-called clash of civilizations then here’s our chance to help avoid and nip Middle Eastern instability in the bud.