Harvard professor speaks on Iraq future

The military action in Iraq theoretically can succeed in forcing a people to be free, but it is a difficult task, said Harvard Ethics Professor Arthur Applbaum Thursday during a lecture at the Student Building.\nApplbaum, a professor of ethics and public policy at Harvard University's Center for Ethics and the Professions, said in order to succeed, the liberation of the Iraqi people must be given time and they must begin to act as a unified group.\n"I'm not sure that we can be all that optimistic that the liberation will stick," he said.\nApplbaum said new polling data suggests the Iraqis may not have wanted to be free, as the Bush administration claimed.\nCiting an ABC/BBC poll, Applbaum said 49 percent of all Iraqis supported the invasion but only 39 percent supported coalition forces remaining in Iraq.\n"If Iraq were California, Paul Bremmer would have been recalled by now," Applbaum said.\nThe poll also asked Iraqis if they felt the invasion liberated or humiliated Iraq. Applbaum said 42 percent felt liberated, while 41 percent felt humiliated.\nApplbaum asked, "Why can't both be true?"\nApplbaum challenged the common anti-war argument that it is impossible to force people to be free, saying people can become free over time.\n"If I put a gun to your head and say, 'I force you to be free,' then you can't be free," he said. "But, if you stretch the time out long enough, it is possible to be free."\nGermany and Japan illustrate that force can lead to freedom, Applbaum said.\nApplbaum said the United States is "paternalizing" the Iraqi people, restricting their liberties for their own good. \n"The Iraqi people have been humiliated by being paternalized, but we can only hope that they have been liberated," Applbaum said. \nThe trouble with paternalism is it is insulting, even when justified, because it requires admitting to yourself you don't have a competent will, Applbaum said. \n"If we are going to make this thing fly, we may need to say 'we are going to paternalize the Iraqi people, not paternalize Iraqi individuals,'" he said.\nApplbaum said when people fail to restrict their own freedoms for the sake of civil society, they must be made to do so. But to establish a self-ruling Iraq, there must first be a moral common ground among the Iraqi people, Applbaum said. \nThere "has to be the right kind of connection between the ruler and the ruled," he said.\nWhile Saddam could not establish it, Iraqis still don't have a next-best candidate to do so, he said. \nFreshman Samantha Powell said she attended the lecture because she enjoyed political and ethical discussions and thought the issues would be "relevant to the war in Iraq and possible courses of action now that we are there."\nThe lecture was presented by the Poynter Center, which was created to look at and study ethical issues throughout American life, Research Associate Glenda Murray said.\n-- Contact staff writer Matt McNabb at mmcnabb@indiana.edu.