Condoleezza Rice: “International Support for Iraqi Democracy”

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

Rice's speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., "International Support for Iraqi Democracy," was an important statement of the progress made in Iraq since the beginning of the American military intervention. Rice proudly outlines the international support for the intervention and emphasizes the central role of the United States in the liberation of Iraq. Speaking two days before the first Iraqi parliamentary elections since the fall of the dictator Saddam Hussein, she answers critics of the American mission in Iraq, linking the establishment of democracy in the country to the democratic hopes of the entire Middle East and, in turn, to American and world security. Rice argues that if the international military coalition were to “desert Iraq's democrats at their time of greatest need,” it would “embolden every enemy of liberty across the Middle East” and “destroy any chance that the people of this region have of building a future of hope and decency.” If Iraq fell into the hands of the “small but deadly group” of al Qaeda terrorists, she says, it would become “the heart of a totalitarian empire that encompasses the Islamic world.” The terrorists' triumph in the Middle East would put them in a position to threaten the security of the United States. Rice vows (quoting President Bush) that “America will not retreat from a fight that we can and must win.”

Two years after the United States entered Baghdad, bringing the first phase of the war to an end, Rice concedes that victory in that country was a goal that could not be achieved overnight. Yet amid growing talk of fabrication of evidence on Iraqi possession of weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion, and in the face of increasing national and international protests, Rice asserts that support for the mission had grown. She offers Iraqi citizens as an inspirational example to the world for having freely chosen democracy over tyranny. The development of a democratic system in Iraq, she says, had won international support for the military coalition that was helping in this process. Rice is also careful to dispel suspicions of American imperialism, stating that the ultimate goal of the mission is to make Iraqis able to defend their own country, allowing American soldiers to “return home to their families with the honor that they deserve.” The international support was not limited to the military sphere only but also included economic help “to liberate the entrepreneurial spirit of the Iraqi people.” Here, as in many other of her speeches, Rice links democracy and free-market capitalism as mutually essential.

International support for the Iraqi mission was clearly shown, Rice asserts, by the UN endorsement that coalition forces had received and by growing approval in the Arab world. In the face of this rising endorsement, Rice expresses disappointment that the international community was boycotting Saddam's trial (a trial that would end in November 2006 with a death sentence, carried out in December of that year) and that neighboring Arab countries such as Syria and Iran were still supporting the violence that besieged Iraqi society. Yet the enemies of Iraqi democracy, enemies that Rice identifies with those opposing military intervention in the country, were considerably fewer than at the beginning of armed operations. She attributes this to the leadership of President Bush. The concluding remarks of her speech affirm the central role that the United States had played in restoring democracy to Iraq. She depicts America as a world leader in the advancement of freedom. Iraq thus becomes a universal and timeless example and, tellingly, Rice links Bush's “promise of a free Iraq” to President Ronald Reagan's support of freedom in Latin America and in the Soviet Union at the time of the cold war.