AMAZON

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Hope for Iraq

Since making last Thursday’s post, Peace-Making in Iraq, and reviewing the comments made to it, I have been contemplating the future of the Middle East in general and Iraq specifically. The comment that disturbed me the most was one related historically to Islamic Arabs:

They have been merrily killing each other for over 1,500 years. Why would anyone think they would stop now?

Unfortunately, my knowledge of history tells me this is a mostly accurate observation. Arab Muslims have been killing one another since a decade following the death of the Prophet Muhammad. During the seven centuries of the Ottoman Empire, the blood-letting was fairly limited to tribal warfare and blood feuds. The Muslim religious sects seemed not be as divisive as since the development of Islamic fundamentalism. All of this seemed to me to bode ill for any peacemaking in Iraq, including my suggestion that Arab Muslims become the peacekeeping force.

Then this morning I read an article on CNN.com entitled Official says Iraqis resisting civil war. Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, states that Iraqis “…will never be driven to the civil war." He also seems to concur with my observation that Western troops alone cannot really end the Iraqi violence, which he believes stems primarily from non-Iraqi agitators in Iraq.

I hope that Dr. al-Rubaie’s analysis is correct.

For an opposing picture of Iraq's future, see next week's TIME magazine's cover story.

8 comments:

  1. I think he is right about the non-Iraqi agitators. That doesn't mean he is right about no civil war.

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  2. He may be right. Or, he may simply be hoping. Time will tell,

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  3. What does that mean for U.S. troops?

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  4. civil war may not be as likely as it seems-after the Samarra bombings there were nationwide displays of solidarity between Shias and Sunnis-this wasn't really reported on in the west...
    Difficult to predict what will happen in Iraq because of the lack of decent reporting- but Dahr Jamail is a good source

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  5. There will be no civil war in Iraq. Muslims do not kill Muslims. If a Muslim deliberately kills another Muslim, he must be killed after all evidence is established, unless the family of the murdered forgive the murderer or accept to compromise the matter with him.

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  7. I read the TIME article. Now I am depressed. Not really depressed, but feeling much less hopeful. It looks like we will be in Iraq until my grandchildren have grandchildren.

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