Foreign Policy

Can Bush Settle Iraq Political Quandry?

April 12, 2006 ⋅  E-Mail Article ⋅  Print Article ⋅ Post a comment

Imagine throwing an emotional group of Baptist Democrats into a room with a staunch group of Conservative Republican Catholics, and then tell them they have to come to a consensus on some very debatable issues, what do you think would be the result? Now times that by ten and you have the mess we now know as the new Iraqi government. One thing I forgot, add the hatred of the South versus the North during the civil war, now you have it.

The people in Iraq, and throughout the Middle East, have a deep rooted hatred of others dissimilar to their culture and religious belief, like it or not that’s the fact. To think that by us demanding changes to Iraqi culture, and politics, will occur is as asinine as our Iraqi war strategy. We must first understand the underlying issues and then maybe we can formulate some sort of success out of this disastrous policy.

It should come as no great surprise that the Shiite politicians failed to resolve the stalemate over the construction of the new Iraqi government after the new government met to discuss the opposition of Sunni and Kurdish parties to the Shiite nominee for prime minister. We hear these stories as if they should be surprising, if we take the time to learn about the history between Shiites and Sunnis, we would understand how arduous a task this really is. Now the sides are deadlocked on the issue of Prime Minister and they are both digging in deeper than a Kentucky Wood Tick.

The embattled Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s Dawa party, and his main supporter Muqtada al-Sadr, continued to stand behind the Prime Minister. However, there is much discussion occurring in Iraq that states it may be time for al-Jaafari to depart the government so that the formation of the new government can move forward. Many believe Muqtada al-Sadr will not quietly allow the replacement of al-Jaafari because this would diminish his political clout in Iraq. Is this what we have now, a cleric actually controlling politics? Constantly we hear that there is a bitter power struggle between al-Sadr’s group and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Both parties carry a large amount of influence because of their religious ties to the community but this is never spoken of in public. Both sides also are fighting a vicious power struggle because they both want to control the future of Iraq; we also never get this information from our daily news either.

Many also say that Iran is having a major influence inside of Iran. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak questioned the loyalty of Iraqi Shiites during a recent interview aired in the Middle East. Mubarak stated that Iraqi Shiites are more loyal to Iran than to their own country and that civil war has just about begun in Iraq.

Bush Needs To Settle Iraq War

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