Iraq Suffering From 'Freedom Deficit'

Wednesday, May 28, 2003
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

The coalition authority is working to restore basic human services in Iraq, Douglas Feith said, adding that some of the services are "in very bad shape." Water, electricity and sewage are problems in Baghdad, while other services – such as hospitals and schools – are problems in other areas. While the war caused some damage, "the really sorry state of a lot of these institutions goes back before the war."

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
Iraq can be a model for other Arab nations as Iraqi citizens work to establish a representative government in their country, a senior defense policy maker said today.

Douglas Feith, defense undersecretary for policy, held a news conference with Arab journalists at the Foreign Press Center. He quoted from a U.N. Arab Fund for Economic Development study that said the "wave of democracy" that washed over Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe in the 1980s and 1990s "barely touched" the Arab world.

The study said the area is suffering from "a freedom deficit." Iraq, now free of Saddam Hussein and his regime, is an opportunity for Arab nations to join the wave of democracy and eliminate the freedom deficit, Feith said.

"Iraq has the chance to make a fresh start and can demonstrate that such a country can become politically free and economically prosperous," he said.

Iraq has a number of advantages to build on. The country has an educated population, oil wealth and water resources. "This makes for an exciting moment in world affairs right now, and it is an opportunity that we are focused on," Feith said.

Feith said the process is not "nation building" – a term George W. Bush disparaged as he ran for president. "(The term 'nation building') is, in our view, disrespectful of the people in the country, …" Feith said. "The Iraqi nation is going to be built by Iraqis, and it is not for non- Iraqis to build Iraq. The role that we are playing there is to help set conditions that will allow Iraqis to build their own country in their own way."
(More: DefenseLINK.mil)
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2003/n05282003_200305282.html
2003 © U.S. Department of Defense.

Dan