Sunday, June 08, 2008
Opinion

Letter from Iraq: Lessons Georgia can learn

Tom Murphy and Zell Miller ran the place for a long time, but Georgia had to change with the times and develop new leadership, just as Iraq is doing

By Doug Teper

Springtime in Iraq, and after 16 years as an elected official in the Georgia House of Representatives, plus a few more years wondering what to do with myself, this is where I am now.

My job—and the job of a posse of ex-pats from Canada, Serbia/Kosovo/Bosnia, England, Denmark, Nigeria, the Middle East and elsewhere—is to train the elected officials and staffers of Iraq’s fledging democracy in governance and political party development.

When I decided to come here, people who knew how I had struggled with the General Assembly and been shelled by the media asked me, “Why would you want to subject yourself to more hell by going to Iraq?” I’m here because after attempting to bring democracy to the Georgia legislature, I thought it would be easy to train Iraqi political parties whose members come from a tradition of dictators, petty monarchs, tribal chieftains, religious demagogues and warlords.

Besides, I was curious. For years, news coverage of Iraq has painted it as a dangerous, murderous place, and having been accustomed to the practices of news reporters, I suspected there was another story that was being missed and probably purposefully neglected. So I signed up with a non-governmental organization (NGO) and flew off to the cradle of civilization. Actually, I flew into northern Iraq—Erbil International Airport, to be exact—put on my flak jacket, received my helmet, and got into the designated convoy, escorted by a heavily armed personal security detail (PSD). Five minutes later, I was introduced to the trailer park inside a walled-off compound that I would call home.

Almost immediately, it was apparent that the Kurdish area of Iraq is very different from the scenes we are used to seeing on the nightly news. Erbil is a vibrant, dynamic city, billed as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The city is arguably safer than Clayton County, Ga., and the school system here is accredited. The streets are full of cars, the sidewalks and stores are bustling with people and the rate of new construction is beyond belief. Erbil International Hotel is almost identical to any other nine-floor modern hotel in the world (down to the lunch buffet). The top-floor conference room window shows a majestic view that includes Erbil’s citadel, a circular fortress built in the 12th century to guard what’s now the center of the city.

The young Kurdish professionals who work in my office are indistinguishable from the young professionals who live and work in Atlanta. Their clothing is office casual. Some, though not all, of the women cover their heads. Some training participants from outside the Kurdish region see a visit to Erbil as a vacation, because they can shop, have picnics and see the sights.

Americans may not realize that Iraq has had two elections since the ouster of the dictator Saddam Hussein. After six months of negotiations, a “government of national unity” was agreed upon by the United Iraqi Alliance, the Iraqi Accord Front, the Kurdistani Alliance and the Iraqi National List, under the leadership of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. During the most recent election, 228 political party “lists”—party candidate rosters—were registered, including 21 coalitions. To understand what that’s like, imagine if every neighborhood association and civic group decided that instead of complaining about zoning decisions, they would just start their own political party. Provincial elections are planned for the fall of this year, and there will probably be a shifting of coalitions and alliances for the different regions of this large and diverse country.

I am often asked if I believe it’s possible for a society previously led by a strongman who oversaw a tribal culture to be converted into a functioning democracy. Why not? Remember that for many years in America, Catholics voted for Catholics, Protestants voted for Protestants, Jews voted for Jews, whites voted for whites, blacks voted for blacks, and so on. In some ways, it makes some sense. Many of us do not have the time, energy or inclination to deeply research each candidate’s position on all the issues. Instead, we vote for someone who appears to be like us, understands our problems and shares our values. Beyond that, we sometimes discover that we agree with people who do not look or speak like us. Also, the needs of the people here in Iraq are comparable to the needs of people anywhere: physical security, a reliable infrastructure, economic security and health care, to name just a few.

I train officials and staffers to listen not just to the people who already support them, but to find out what’s important to those outside their support base. As we’ve talked about the challenges they face, I’ve told these officials that in Georgia we had leaders who were, at least politically speaking, warlords, too: Tom Murphy and Zell Miller ran the place for a long time, but Georgia had to change with the times and develop new leadership, just as Iraq is doing.

The training participants all appear to be very dedicated, attentive and motivated. My NGO is teaching them political election campaign tools. They apply those tools in the way they deem best. I do not even pretend to make decisions for them. The modules we teach include public opinion research, drafting a campaign plan, selecting issues for an election platform, voter targeting, message development, message delivery, candidate training, and how to get out the vote. Already, a few of the parties have some of these basic mechanisms in place.

The biggest challenge is to convince them that it’s proper for democratically elected leaders to address the interests of all constituents, even those outside their core support base, in a fair and equitable manner. Once in office, they’re responsible for the well-being of everyone in their districts. The very fact that Iraq’s elected officials are settling disagreements with voting and compromise instead of guns is a great step toward peace and prosperity. If only Georgia could learn from them. SP

Editor’s Note: Doug Teper, who represented part of DeKalb County from 1989 to 2005 as a Democrat state representative in the Georgia General Assembly, has recently gone to work in Iraq. Teper fills in for Stephanie Ramage this week.