Tuesday, February 15, 2005
US fights back against 'rule by clerics' according to Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, The Asian Times, 15 February, 2005.
Who knows if any of this is true.
I am concentrating my mind on the deliberations that will lead to the Iraqi Constitution. It would seem appropriate, in the modern age, the various drafts might be put up on the internet for ordinary Iraqis to have their say.
I don't want to see Iraqi streets full of doctors, dentists, nurses, academics, teachers, social workers, off duty policewomen, sweltering in abbahs, not being able to drive their own cars. I am not anti-Islam, recognising the contribution Islamic culture has made to our world. I have seen the Alcazar in Seville, walking the cool corridors and shady gardens, preferring it to the Cathedral. But I am secular. I don't mind people practicing any religion they choose, privately: it is between them and their God. Of course religion is nothing if not social in certain respects, but I suspect public displays of piety - American Presidents shutting their heads and lowering their eyes or Muslim men flagellating themselves - because it seems a faith ought to be sustained by more sophistated means, including quiet contemptation.
However, I fear, in the initial stages of the New Iraq, a backward-looking, communitarian, oppressive way of thinking might prevail. I have said before in posts that it is the younger generation of Iraqis - or indeed those of any age with the hopeful and optimistic mind-set of the young - which will need to push itself through a quick course in "Freedom and Democracy in the Modern Age" in order to take on the leading positions. It is to these young Iraqis that the nation will look to create an Iraq fit for the 21st century.
I do not want to see a Middle Eastern El Salvador or Nicaragua being created by the Americans in order to vainly attempt to control matters. Iraqis society is far more complex than the United States. It should not be expected that the black and white, white hats/black hats, politics expected in America will happen there. There are shades of grey, nuances, which we must grasp in order not to feel we have to intervene.
What is the worst that could happen? It is said that the Iranians have the upper hand because they can make real trouble if the Occupation Forces do not leave Iraq within a reasonable time-scale. It is also claimed Iran has done its best to ensure complete chaos has not ensued in Iraq. Time will tell.
There is a lot of relevance to the Middle East in this New York Review of three books about
Europe vs. America
¶ Tuesday, February 15, 2005
