At her recent visit to Baghdad, Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, happily proclaimed a “…new spirit of cooperation” between Iraq’s Shi’ites and Sunnis. The reason for Rice’s exuberance was the passage of a new law which will help members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party get jobs and benefits they have been denied since the party’s fall from power.
We should not be so quick to rejoice. Real political rapprochement between Shi’ites and Sunnis is still a long way off. This particular law passed the Iraqi parliament but nearly half of the legislators refused to attend. Even more telling is the continuing boycott of parliament by both Iraq’s largest Sunni bloc (The Accordance Front) and those Shi’ites who follow the militant cleric Mugtada al-Sadar.
I suppose we should be happy with any sign of accord between Iraq’s Shi’ites and Sunnis, but this is a very small one indeed. Rice’s statement is another sign of the Bush administration’s willingness to grasp any straw which might suggest Iraqi harmony where it does not exist.
I hope we will not forget that the primary function of last year’s troop surge was to allow Iraqi legislators a respite of peace, in order that they might forge the necessary agreements that will bring about real peace in that troubled nation. So far, this has not happened and the passage of this very minor law is hardly a sign of “a new spirit of cooperation.”
The basic facts cited here are summarized from an atricle in January 28th Issue of Newsweek.
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