Another Sam Hurst Editorial

I realize that some of you aren't interested in South Dakota history like I am. But this editorial by Sam Hurst, in the Rapid City Journal, draws an excellent analogy between the way our government dealt with the Iraq Nation and the Sioux Nation.
By Sam Hurst:

Another bomb in Baghdad. Another dead American soldier. Another 60 dead Iraqis.
Having found no weapons of mass destruction, having turned the back alleys of Baghdad into an epicenter of terrorism, having popped the cork on a religious civil war, President Bush has reached deep into America’s psyche to conjure up one last justification for invasion that flatters our self-image. We invaded Iraq to overthrow tyranny and build a democracy.
Certainly the creation of a democracy half way around the world is worth half a trillion dollars, and the lives of 3,100 American soldiers. But the crusade seems more and more futile each day. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson never had to fight their way through roadside bombs, or ancient religious rivalries. Can it be done?
Meanwhile, back on the Rez ...
When President Bush says he’s prepared to stay in Iraq “until the job is done,” those poor Iraqis have no idea just how long he means. But the Lakotas do. The United States government has been “stabilizing” the Great Sioux Nation and promoting democracy for 139 years.
Analogy is a dangerous form of argument, never precise. But sometimes analogy can give us insights into our history, and in this case, it’s worth considering: Maybe Iraq isn’t just the next Vietnam. Maybe Iraq is the next Pine Ridge.
A good starting point is the recognition that the voice of our “better angels” is forever stumbling over the more powerful impulse of greed. Oil in Iraq. Gold in the Black Hills. As a good friend likes to remind me: “We didn’t invade Iraq because they grow broccoli.”
The face of American democracy first comes to nations like the Lakotas and Iraq in the form of invasion. Kill the radicals and train homegrown police to secure the countryside. Build forts along the wagon routes. (Fourteen American military bases have been built in Iraq.) Draw sharp rhetorical edges. Warriors who refuse to move to the reservations are “hostiles.” Iraqis who resist the invasion are “terrorists.”
Then we sign treaties and send in a superintendent. Welcome to Iraq, Mr. Bremer. We dump wagonloads of money into economic development — scrawny cattle, plows, cheap blankets. Private contractors siphon off most of the money. Welcome to Iraq, Halliburton.
Then we form constitutional governments, pick our favorite chiefs, and sponsor elections. Dip your finger in purple ink, and make your mark here. Divide up your land, modernize, grow wheat. It’s all for your own good.
We’ve been building constitutional government in Iraq for three years. At Pine Ridge we’ve been at work since 1934.
And here’s what we’ve got. The impeachment of Cecelia Fire Thunder was a sham. Last fall’s election was a disaster. Almost no one voted, and those who did can’t agree who the legitimate president is.
Unemployment is over 50 percent. The tribe is smothered by epidemics of obesity, diabetes, alcoholism and domestic abuse. The budget for Indian Health Services is cut year after year.
The Iraqis are gonna love American democracy.
Finally, we abandon the nation to poverty. There hasn’t been a full-time BIA Superintendent on Pine Ridge for over a year. We cover our escape with a self-righteous chorus of blame. You can hear it from the mouths of conservative ranchers and liberal politicians, “Those Indians ... those Iraqis ... they just aren’t ready for self-government. This mess is their fault.”
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was fond of saying; “At some point, you’ve got to take your hand off the bicycle seat.” Those Iraqis are such children. If they only had training wheels. Hillary Clinton promises the voters of New Hampshire, our soldiers “won’t baby-sit a sectarian civil war.” This is the bi-partisan language of the Great White Father.
Don’t get me wrong. A century of American intervention on Pine Ridge has created a disaster, but it does not mean the Lakotas are without leadership, community, cultural and spiritual vitality. The most creative expressions of popular sovereignty come from people who have returned to traditional political values — consensus, council, and the authority of elders. In New England we used to call it “town hall” democracy. But you have to go off the paved roads to find democracy on Pine Ridge. And, how can I say this politely: We ain’t exactly welcome.
The Iraqis have deep reservoirs of civilization and common history that may hold them back from a genocidal civil war. They may yet find a way to come together to fight outside terrorists. But Americans have been so busy busting down doors that we won’t understand Iraqi civilization even if we stay another century. After all, we would have to learn the language. We would have to study another religion without prejudice. We’d have to let Iraqis control their own oil. We’d have to grasp the possibility that the American Way isn’t the only way to popular government.
Republicans are posturing to blame the Democrats for losing Iraq. But we lost Iraq four years ago. We lost Iraq when President Bush concluded that Iraqi democracy could be built with American tanks and machine guns. It can’t be done today any more than it could be done in a century after Wounded Knee. Just ask the Lakotas.