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Iraq, Struggling To Define Itself
Apr. 24th, 2009 02:07 pmI just watched an interesting program on Al Jazeera, talking about Iraqi national reconciliation. This is the process of getting the different groups within Iraq to reconcile their differences so that they can get on with running the country. This is not something being forced upon the Iraqis by well-intentioned Westerners, but an attempt by the Iraqi government to get government working again.
The panelists consisted of a current Iraqi parliamentarian, a former parliamentarian and an Iraqi political analyst. I'm not sure which political groups they each represented but it was clear from the discussion that they were not all from the governing party.
What struck me most about the discussion was how little the US figured in it. When the moderator asked about whether the US timeline for withdrawal was a driving force behind the search for reconciliation, two of the panelists said no and a third simply noted that Obama had promised a "responsible" withdrawal, which he felt meant that Iraqis had time to get it right. It seems that Obama's admission that the invasion of Iraq was "irresponsible", along with the timeline for withdrawal, has blunted a lot of the anger against America, at least among the political classes, allowing them to focus more on the problems at hand.
Chief among those problems are a constitution which exacerbates sectarian differences and a culture in which the concepts of forgiveness and sharing with those outside your own tribe are weak.
For too long Iraqis have wasted their time blaming everything on the Americans. Not that they weren't justified in doing so, but the actions of the US were beyond their ability to influence and all the finger pointing achieved nothing. It's good to see them finally tackling the issues which divide them and focussing on those areas over which they do have influence.
Once Iraq is a stable and functioning state once more, then they can turn their anger back toward the US and begin demanding reparations.
The panelists consisted of a current Iraqi parliamentarian, a former parliamentarian and an Iraqi political analyst. I'm not sure which political groups they each represented but it was clear from the discussion that they were not all from the governing party.
What struck me most about the discussion was how little the US figured in it. When the moderator asked about whether the US timeline for withdrawal was a driving force behind the search for reconciliation, two of the panelists said no and a third simply noted that Obama had promised a "responsible" withdrawal, which he felt meant that Iraqis had time to get it right. It seems that Obama's admission that the invasion of Iraq was "irresponsible", along with the timeline for withdrawal, has blunted a lot of the anger against America, at least among the political classes, allowing them to focus more on the problems at hand.
Chief among those problems are a constitution which exacerbates sectarian differences and a culture in which the concepts of forgiveness and sharing with those outside your own tribe are weak.
For too long Iraqis have wasted their time blaming everything on the Americans. Not that they weren't justified in doing so, but the actions of the US were beyond their ability to influence and all the finger pointing achieved nothing. It's good to see them finally tackling the issues which divide them and focussing on those areas over which they do have influence.
Once Iraq is a stable and functioning state once more, then they can turn their anger back toward the US and begin demanding reparations.
