thedrifter
05-31-06, 05:43 AM
May 30, 2006, 6:27 a.m.
Streetwise
Fighting for our future.
By Ali Al-Zahid
Baghdad—After seemingly never-ending disputes, Iraqi leaders finally reached an agreement on a new government. In itself, this agreement involving the two main ethnic groups and two chief religious factions is a reason to celebrate; but Iraq still faces a long, obstacle-filled road to democracy and unity. The task is not, as is often wrongly said, reconstruction; you can’t reconstruct what never existed. What Iraq has to do is start from scratch, after millions of deaths and a society destroyed by 35 years of Baath dictatorship.
The Iraqi people now have two options. One is the so-called Zarqawi or Baath option, which would mean years of civil war, with millions of victims, culminating in the division of Iraq into a northern Iraq governed by the two big Kurdish parties and a remaining territory governed either by Sunni or Shiite leaders.
The other option is to continue on the current road—a path that will require much effort and patience, and will entail many casualties. This option has one major problem: The political figures who are now running Iraq are no longer trusted. Too much has gone wrong, and yet the political leaders still ignore the danger they are in of losing the “Iraqi street”—the poor and uneducated people in the slums of Baghdad and Basra. The group around Moqtada al-Sadr is addressing these people, using the old and efficient Hamas principle: take care of the people’s basic needs, and indoctrinate them.
Here’s just one example, which I personally witnessed a short time ago. It was a meeting between project managers who were working on the infrastructure of Sadr City, a slum of Baghdad, and representatives of Moqtada. The meeting was simply about the question of where and when to begin the construction works in this Moqtada stronghold. The Moqtada people confronted the managers with some absurd requirements; a second meeting was scheduled, but again with no result; to a third meeting, the Moqtada men came bearing arms. The message was clear: Either their conditions would be accepted, or the project managers would be killed.
The road to a new future will only work if the “street” is re-conquered. The street was won over once before—on April 9, 2003, when Coalition forces reached Baghdad. But then they were lost, through corruption, the Abu Ghraib scandal, and the failure to rebuild Iraq successfully. We have to understand that these people are the key to the success of Project Iraq. If we win this group over, Moqtada will have no support. Perhaps it is thought that Moqtada can be controlled, but this is a great mistake. Moqtada’s forces stay calm only because they are growing every day, biding their time before wreaking havoc on the country. In Iraq’s history, too many Shiites have been victimized for the Shiite community to be easily split: Once the group around Moqtada reaches critical mass, the solidarity between them and the rest of the Shiites will be virtually insuperable. It is therefore urgent that we take back the street—as soon as possible.
This is only one of the many problems facing Iraq. But this path, difficult as it may be, is the only one that can take us to the functioning Iraq we all dream of. We Iraqis have to understand that the only solution is to stand together. We are surrounded by enemies, and on the day we fail with our nation-building there will, once again, be millions of dead. Some believe that civil war is inevitable, and has to take place in order to achieve unity; but the fact is we have already paid with enough lives, we have already buried too many friends and relatives.
Al Qaeda and the supporters of Saddam Hussein have, since 2003, tried everything imaginable to start this civil war—but they have tried in vain. There are still a large number of people who won’t be provoked, but with every terrorist attack, with every assassination, the danger increases.
There is no prior instance in history in which there were such vehement efforts made, without success, to incite two ethnic groups to civil war. We Iraqis can say with pride that that, so far, there is no civil war to speak of—even if the world calls the current state of affairs a civil war, and waits expectantly for a real one to break out.
— Ali Al-Zahid is a member of the new Iraquna think tank. Under Saddam Hussein, he was imprisoned after his father made critical statements against the Baath regime.
Ellie
Streetwise
Fighting for our future.
By Ali Al-Zahid
Baghdad—After seemingly never-ending disputes, Iraqi leaders finally reached an agreement on a new government. In itself, this agreement involving the two main ethnic groups and two chief religious factions is a reason to celebrate; but Iraq still faces a long, obstacle-filled road to democracy and unity. The task is not, as is often wrongly said, reconstruction; you can’t reconstruct what never existed. What Iraq has to do is start from scratch, after millions of deaths and a society destroyed by 35 years of Baath dictatorship.
The Iraqi people now have two options. One is the so-called Zarqawi or Baath option, which would mean years of civil war, with millions of victims, culminating in the division of Iraq into a northern Iraq governed by the two big Kurdish parties and a remaining territory governed either by Sunni or Shiite leaders.
The other option is to continue on the current road—a path that will require much effort and patience, and will entail many casualties. This option has one major problem: The political figures who are now running Iraq are no longer trusted. Too much has gone wrong, and yet the political leaders still ignore the danger they are in of losing the “Iraqi street”—the poor and uneducated people in the slums of Baghdad and Basra. The group around Moqtada al-Sadr is addressing these people, using the old and efficient Hamas principle: take care of the people’s basic needs, and indoctrinate them.
Here’s just one example, which I personally witnessed a short time ago. It was a meeting between project managers who were working on the infrastructure of Sadr City, a slum of Baghdad, and representatives of Moqtada. The meeting was simply about the question of where and when to begin the construction works in this Moqtada stronghold. The Moqtada people confronted the managers with some absurd requirements; a second meeting was scheduled, but again with no result; to a third meeting, the Moqtada men came bearing arms. The message was clear: Either their conditions would be accepted, or the project managers would be killed.
The road to a new future will only work if the “street” is re-conquered. The street was won over once before—on April 9, 2003, when Coalition forces reached Baghdad. But then they were lost, through corruption, the Abu Ghraib scandal, and the failure to rebuild Iraq successfully. We have to understand that these people are the key to the success of Project Iraq. If we win this group over, Moqtada will have no support. Perhaps it is thought that Moqtada can be controlled, but this is a great mistake. Moqtada’s forces stay calm only because they are growing every day, biding their time before wreaking havoc on the country. In Iraq’s history, too many Shiites have been victimized for the Shiite community to be easily split: Once the group around Moqtada reaches critical mass, the solidarity between them and the rest of the Shiites will be virtually insuperable. It is therefore urgent that we take back the street—as soon as possible.
This is only one of the many problems facing Iraq. But this path, difficult as it may be, is the only one that can take us to the functioning Iraq we all dream of. We Iraqis have to understand that the only solution is to stand together. We are surrounded by enemies, and on the day we fail with our nation-building there will, once again, be millions of dead. Some believe that civil war is inevitable, and has to take place in order to achieve unity; but the fact is we have already paid with enough lives, we have already buried too many friends and relatives.
Al Qaeda and the supporters of Saddam Hussein have, since 2003, tried everything imaginable to start this civil war—but they have tried in vain. There are still a large number of people who won’t be provoked, but with every terrorist attack, with every assassination, the danger increases.
There is no prior instance in history in which there were such vehement efforts made, without success, to incite two ethnic groups to civil war. We Iraqis can say with pride that that, so far, there is no civil war to speak of—even if the world calls the current state of affairs a civil war, and waits expectantly for a real one to break out.
— Ali Al-Zahid is a member of the new Iraquna think tank. Under Saddam Hussein, he was imprisoned after his father made critical statements against the Baath regime.
Ellie