[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Politics of Exclusion in Iraq

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Politics of Exclusion in Iraq

August 22, 2004
 


 

Last week's national political conference in Baghdad was
all but eclipsed by the armed standoff outside the Imam Ali
Mosque in Najaf. But the Baghdad politicking was just as
important for the future prospects of a unified Iraq, and
the outcome was mostly discouraging. 

Although it brought together what was probably the most
diverse collection of Iraqis ever to sit in a single hall
and produced some glimmers of democratic debate, the
conference largely failed to achieve the crucial purpose
assigned to it in the planning for a transition to a
workable democracy. It was supposed to provide a broader
base for governance and constitutional compromise than
Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's narrow, exile-dominated
cabinet. That did not really happen. Instead, the gathering
was controlled from beginning to end by a familiar cast of
characters, drawn from the same narrow sources as the first
American-appointed Iraqi Governing Council. As a result,
the Allawi government largely squandered its best single
opportunity to draw disaffected Iraqis into peaceful
politics in advance of next year's elections. 

The conference's main task was to choose a 100-person
interim assembly with the power to oversee the cabinet,
veto legislation and approve the budget. The United Nations
and foreign diplomats had been concerned that the interim
government was not doing enough to draw in political
independents and regional leaders. Even more ominously, the
Allawi government had not sufficiently reached out to
include radical Sunni nationalists and Shiite religious
factions now torn between entering the political process
and persisting in armed resistance. Dealing with these
Sunni and Shiite radicals is admittedly difficult, and some
of them probably want no part of a representative
government. But leaving large numbers of them outside the
tent makes more of the kind of revolts seen in Falluja,
Najaf and the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad almost
inevitable. 

In the end, many who should have attended were not present
and the independents who did show up were deprived of real
power in choosing the assembly members. Before the
conferees even assembled, 19 of the 100 assembly seats had
been reserved for those members of the old governing
council who had not made it into the new cabinet. Then,
last Wednesday, parties associated with that discredited
council pushed through a single slate allocating the
remaining 81 seats. 

Iraq is supposed to conduct three elections next year,
starting with the selection of a transitional assembly with
constitution-writing powers in January and culminating in
the election of a fully constitutional government by the
end of the year. No one is under any illusions that the
process will produce a perfect democracy. But it must
create an Iraq that is united and a government that is
deemed legitimate by the Iraqi people. Bitter historic
conflicts and contemporary tensions dividing the majority
Shiite Arabs, minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds must be worked
out. 

The Kurds, who had the main responsibility for organizing
this conference, were well represented through their two
traditional clan-based parties. But protecting Kurdish
interests inside a new Iraq requires bargaining with all
the important forces in the Sunni and Shiite Arab
communities. 

Sunni Arabs, the dominant group under Saddam Hussein - as
well as under the monarchy, the British and the Ottoman
Empire - need to feel that they are not now going to be
victimized by the groups their former leaders trampled on.
The new Iraq must find room for nationalist Sunnis,
including those who worked with the former Baathist
government, not just politicians who spent the Saddam years
in foreign exile. If too many of these people feel
excluded, they can cause serious trouble in Sunni
nationalist strongholds like Falluja and Mosul. Their
grievances may also find ready resonance in neighboring
Sunni-ruled countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait.
Shiite religious radicals are also insufficiently
represented by the exile-oriented Shiite parties allied
with the Allawi government. 

The temptation to exclude radicals, like those now
following Moktada al-Sadr, is natural. But the events of
the last few months have made it obvious that groups that
feel they have no say in the new government will find an
outlet through other, more destructive means. The national
conference was a rare opportunity to bring in excluded
groups and make the elections meaningful. Regrettably, it
fell well short of achieving those goals. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/22/opinion/22sun1.html?ex=1094199545&ei=1&en=3f37405facbf452d


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