Support your local militia

What a crystal-clear example of spontaneous order. Iraq is overflowing with lessons, from the imperial overstretch that may finally wreck the DC empire, to shining examples of how people resist disaster and foreign domination to forge a political association of their own choosing. We should be paying closer attention.

Iraq, an artificial nation cobbled together by Britain after World War I, could only be held together by force. That was provided by a succession of ruthless leaders, the last being Saddam. Once his dictatorship was overthrown, the various ethnic and sectarian groups naturally began asserting their own vision of self-determination. But this was unacceptable to the Neocons, who were determined to make Iraq into their ideal of a harmonious, multi-ethnic democracy. Things didn't work out that way, as this article relates:

The government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which has provided little financial assistance to the more than 2 million Iraqis who have fled the country's sectarian violence, has also failed to support millions more internally displaced persons who are instead being aided by militias, according to a report by Refugees International due for release today.

The vacuum was quickly and naturally filled by local militias, which enjoyed the support of the local population:

"Militias of all denominations are improving their local base of support by providing social services in neighborhoods and towns they control," the report says. It also finds that the Iraqi government, "although it has access to large sums of money," lacks the capacity and political will "to address humanitarian needs."

The US government condemns the Iraqi militias as "criminal gangs." Problem is, the central Iraqi government would not even exist if the US wasn't propping it up and sheltering it inside the US fortress called the Green Zone. The US-backed Iraqi government lacks "political will" because there is no shared vision among the different groups constituting this artificial, multi-ethnic mishmash to unite them and coordinate their efforts.

That's why a shared, historical culture is essential to creating and sustaining free government and individual liberty. And as an alien, contemptuous ruling elite in DC steers a gullible people toward a similar future of squabbling ethnic groups elbowing each other for control here in the US, this is a lesson we'd better pay close attention to.