If the US occupation accomplishes nothing else, it will have brought together the two major Muslim branches, who now oppose the US ocupation.
By Frederick Sweet
interventionmag.com
"Not Sunni. Not Shiite. Only One Islamic Nation," proclaimed a banner. "Iraq must be ruled by its people," read another.
Tens of thousands of Muslims, protesting against losing their position in Iraqi society staged their first public show of force Friday, April 18, 2003. They marched through the streets of Baghdad, protesting the U.S. military occupation, and demanded a Muslim state without distinction between Sunnis and Shiites.
After World War I, the British had set up postwar Iraq with Sunni Muslim Arabs, then about 20 percent of the population, who imposed their control on schools, then the army and later on the economy, thereby alienating the majority of Iraqis. Even years later, after Iraq's defeat in the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard crushed a Shiite rebellion in a campaign that killed tens of thousands.
Now, retired American Lieutenant General Jay Garner had been chosen by the Bush administration to be the top civil administrator of a conquored Iraq. The Bush plan is to split Iraq into three sectors: Kurds in the north, Sunni Muslims in the center, and Shiite Muslims in the south. American officials will be in charge under Garner. Evidently, the plan is to keep the Kurds, Sunni and Shiites separate. But maybe it is already too late for Bush to impose the 19th century British colonial strategy of divide and conquor..
Following decades of mistrust and rivalry between the Sunni and Shiite Iraqis, a three week bombing campaign and massive U.S. military invasion has united the two rival Muslim groups against a common enemy: America. This may be Osama bin Laden's dream come true.
"No to sectarianism, one Islamic state," read another banner at the mosque. "No to America!"
The march began in the mainly Sunni neighborhood of Adamiy at one of Baghdad's largest Sunni mosques after Friday prayers. Chanting anti-US slogans, they demanded the U.S. troops leave quickly, and that a new Islamic government based on the Koran be established.
Announcements at other mosques drew thousands to the Abu Hanifa Mosque. They had listened to a sermon by Ahmed al-Kubeisi, a prominent Sunni cleric who had been a critic of Saddam Hussein. Shiites also showed up to join the mostly Sunni crowd after being urged to attend in the spirit of religious unity.
"You are the masters today," prayer leader al-Kubeisi said of America. "But I warn you against thinking of staying. Get out before we kick you out!" The congregates responded with a hardy cheer and they spilled out into the street. Then Sunnis and Shiites marched side by side through downtown Baghdad, chanting "No to Bush, No to Saddam, Yes to Islam" and "Leave our country, we want peace."
The marchers' demands reflected growing frustration with the pace of American aid and reconstruction programs in Iraq. The Sunni overtures to Shiite leaders who had demanded similar aid are indications that Islamic politics are starting to fill the political vacuum left by Saddam Hussein's downfall.
Signs claiming to represent the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest Islamic activist movement in the Arab world, were carried by some of the marchers. The Brotherhood is a Muslim revivalist group that is banned in Egypt and Syria. This is the first time it had appeared on the streets of Iraq.
Many of the marchers said they had wanted Saddam's government to be overthrown by Iraqis, but they acknowledged that would have been unlikely. Some reluctantly admitted they welcomed the U.S. invasion. Now that Saddam is apparently gone, however, they said they want the U.S. troops to leave.
"We thank them, but now we want them to leave," said poet Rafeh Mohammed, 39. "We want to run our country."
So far, the dancing in the streets of Baghdad predicted by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld hasn't materialized. Rather, the Sunnis and Shiites put their decades old rivalries aside and united against American occupation of Iraq. The coming months will show whether the U.S. build a democratic Iraq faster than the Iraqi Muslims produce a theocracy like their next door neighbor Iran.
[Based on recent reports in Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, Oakland Tribune.]
Frederick Sweet is Professor of Reproductive Biology in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Posted Monday, April 21, 2003 |
