Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Preventing yet another disaster

Dec.25, 2007

Preventing yet another disaster


BRINGING Iraq's Sunni community into their country's mainstream politics and involving them in the governing process is one of the basic requirements for success of any effort for national reconciliation in the chaotic country. The US seems to have realised it and hence Washington's move to open doors to the Sunnis by setting up implicit ties through the so-called neighbourhood groups that are now fighting Al Qaeda militants, as the US military has reported.
A few Sunni political leaders remain in the government and the community is also represented in parliament.
However, it is not enough. The average Iraqi from the Sunni heartland would have to be drawn into the mainstream process and this could be achieved though bringing them into the fold of Iraq's security forces and sparking a political reconciliation that will allow more Sunnis to participate in the governing process.
In a way, Al Qaeda has been trying to prevent the Sunnis from taking part in the political process in the country and the the so-called awakening movement was a response to the Al Qaeda campaign.
The number of fighters in the so-called "awakening" councils as about 70,000 and rapidly growing. and it expected that t the number of Sunni fighters in Baghdad alone to grow to 45,000 next year.
Obviously, the Iraqi government fears that the Sunni fighters could grow into an uncontrollable force and eventually use their guns to escalate the sectarian war.
Defence Minister Abdul Qader Al Obeidi, himself a Sunni Arab, has offered a solution. While reaffirming that the Sunni groups would not be a "third force" — after the army and police — in the country, Obeidi has proposed that the bulk of them could be absorbed into the security forces and the rest would be given vocational training that would enable them to earn a living.
However, that proposal does not negate the fact that the Sunni leaders have sensed that they are being marginalised and they would not settle for anything less than their rightful place in the process of governing Iraq.
Continuing a campaign of "revenge" and oppression against any Iraqi group is not going to any good to any Iraqi group interested in protecting national interests.
The danger is high that the conflict could lead to a broadened battle which the US military would be able to do little to contain.
US strategists face the task of trying to repair the situation and prevent yet another catastrophe from striking the people of Iraq. They should shoulder that responsibility without hesitation. After all, the first catastrophe was of American making.