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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (24317)	3/1/2004 12:35:57 AM
From: calgal	Respond to of 27746

The Problem Within Islam Why the nations of the Middle East are uneasy at the prospect of a democratic Iraq. by Soner Cagaptay 03/01/2004 12:00:00 AM AMERICAN EFFORTS towards a democratic Iraq seem to have created some strange bedfellows in the Middle East. The Sunnis of the region--from Baathist loyalists in Iraq and hardcore Wahhabi zealots in Saudi Arabia to secular-minded elites in Amman, Cairo, and elsewhere--are now united around a common anxiety: Since the Shiite Muslims constitute more than 60 percent of Iraq's population, a democratic Iraq will likely be a Shiite-dominated Iraq. This is anathema for most Sunnis in the region, many of whom regard Shiite Islam as a perversion. (The feeling being mutual, the Shiites don't think very highly of the Sunnis either.) Thus, the possibility that another Shiite state may emerge next to Shiite fundamentalist Iran has exposed some raw nerves in the region, awakening ancient religious prejudices and creating modern political fears. Those anxieties, together with festering anti-Americanism, explain the reluctance of the region's Sunni regimes to extend America a sincere hand in transforming Iraq. To be sure, sectarian divisions are not unique to Islam. Other world religions have their own share of internal prejudices: witness the persecution of the French Huguenots, the Thirty Years War, or the flight of the Puritans from England. Yet, while Christianity has mostly moved beyond intra-religious hatred in the modern times, Islam has not quite done so. There is no Muslim equivalent of the Second Vatican Council, the World Council of Churches. or the tradition of intra-religious dialogue that so characterizes the Christian faith today. Islam remains rooted in its history of deep mistrust between the Shiite and Sunni sects, which, since the 8th century, have been violently feuding over the issue of succession to the Prophet Muhammad. The past 1,300 years of Islamic history have been almost uniformly marked by episodes of strife between these two sects, and political domination by one group has almost always meant persecution of the other. FOR EXAMPLE, when the Shiite Safavids came to power in Iran in the 16th century, they brutalized the country's Sunnis. The mullahs who took charge in Iran with the 1979 Islamic revolution gladly continue this tradition today. In Saudi Arabia, the opposite is true: The Sunni fundamentalist Wahhabis have turned the country into a prison camp for its Shiite minority since they ascended to power in the 19th century. In Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the secularist Baath Party, ruled by the Sunni minority, oppressed the country's Shiite majority for three decades. The legacy of this history of persecution is that Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the Middle East view each other with distrust. In most cases, mutual hatred is almost as deeply rooted as any aversion they may have towards non-Muslims. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN for Operation Iraqi Freedom? With the exception of Iran and Syria (which is ruled by an Alawite minority--an offshoot of Islam distinct from both Sunni and Shiite orthodoxies, if somewhat closer to Shiism) all Muslim states in the Middle East are run by Sunnis, who view a Shiite-ruled Iraq as a potential threat. (The only exception to such authoritarian regimes, Turkey--which is democratic--is also a Sunni majority country.) The Sunni states of the Middle East are unwilling to whole-heartedly support Operation Iraqi Freedom because of what it may produce in the end.

To: calgal who wrote (24317)	3/1/2004 12:44:06 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27746

Iraqis Said to OK Interim Constitution Feb 29, 11:21 PM (ET) By ROBERT H. REID (AP) Iraqi Governing Council members Dr. Rajaa Al-Khuzaai, right seated, and Mahmoud Othman, seated at... Full Image BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi politicians agreed on the draft of an interim constitution early Monday, reaching a compromise on the role of Islam and putting off the details of Kurdish autonomy, an Iraqi official said. The charter will likely be signed Wednesday. Members of the Iraqi Governing Council, with U.S. administrators mediating, ended a second late night of negotiations at 4:20 a.m. with "full agreement ... on each article," said Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for Shiite Muslim council member Ahmad Chalabi. The interim charter, officially the Transitional Administrative Law, will remain in effect until a permanent constitution is drafted and ratified next year. It underlines that the rights of all Iraqi citizens will be respected and sets aside for women 25 percent of the seats in the provisional legislature, Qanbar said. According to Qanbar, the interim constitution charter will recognize Islam as a major source of legislation and ban any laws which violate the tenets of the Muslim faith. U.S. officials and secular-minded members got their way with the phrase "a source" - out of many sources - but the ban on laws that violate Islam was aimed at pleasing conservatives. (AP) Workers polish decorative lights around the edge of the gold-tiled dome of the Imam Hussein shrine,... Full Image U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer had hinted he would veto conservatives' phrasing setting Islamic law as "the" main basis of law, which some feared would create an Islamic state and restrict women's rights. The interim charter affirmed the principle of federalism but left details of how this would be implemented - particularly in areas where ethnic Kurds enjoy self-rule - to a future elected government. There was no comment from Kurdish and hardline Muslim members of the Iraqi Governing Council. However, if they accepted the language, that would remove a major hurdle on the path to a new sovereign Iraqi government taking power on schedule June 30. About eight of the council's 13 Shiite members stormed out of a meeting on the constitution late Friday in a dispute over Islamic law and the women's rights. The walkout was prompted by a vote to cancel a resolution that would have made Islamic law the basis for issues like divorce and inheritance. The resolution, pushed through the Governing Council by hard-liners in December, angered many women who feared their rights would be restricted. (AP) A boy stands among a group of praying Shiite Muslims, inside the compound of the Imam Hussein... Full Image The document will likely be signed Wednesday, after the Shiite Muslim religious holiday of Ashoura ends, said Qanbar, of the Iraqi National Congress. Bremer must then sign the document. "There was an agreement among all council members that Iraq will not be an Islamic state," Qanbar said. "The language was put in a way not to offend the Islamic identity of most of the people but nor to offend the other side and give the impression that it's an Islamic state." The deal came two days after a deadline for finishing the document - a key part of the U.S. plan for handing over power to the Iraqis on June 30. Saturday's deadline had been set by the Americans and agreed to by the Governing Council in November. When it passed with the council still deeply divided, Bremer helped organize marathon talks. The members, however, appeared to have been unable to agree on the terms and size of the Kurdish self-rule region in the north. Kurdish leaders had demanded the right to keep their peshmerga militia as a distinct armed force and to control oil and other resources in their region. They also sought to add districts to the autonomous area. Qanbar said the final version accepts the principle of federalism throughout Iraq and allows the current Kurdish autonomy government to continue "under a united Iraq." But it leaves it up to a future elected national assembly to decide the details of self-rule for the Kurdish minority, Qanbar said. Shiites, who dominate southern Iraq, insisted that if the Kurds had the right to self-rule in their northern strongholds, Shiites should enjoy the same privilege in areas of the south where they predominate. "The atmosphere was very constructive," he said of the long negotiations. "Alternative language and creative ways were brought to the table to come out with consensus on each issue."