Shiite and Sunni Unite Against Terror in Iraq By Andrew L. Jaffee, March 4, 2004	Home   Search   Forum   Terms

On February 19, I wrote an article entitled, "Al-Qaeda Admits Failure In Iraq - Terror Will Backfire." Well, it looks like terrorism is starting to backfire in Iraq. Shiite and Sunni Muslims are uniting in protest against those terrorists wishing to destabilize Iraq.

Hundreds and hundreds of innocent Iraqis have been killed by terrorists -- mainly al-Qaeda, former Saddam loyalists, and several other shadowy Islamist groups -- since the end of major hostilities last year. Two days ago, over 140 Muslim innocents were killed by terrorists in Baghdad and Karbala. Most of the souls murdered were Shiites attending religious events marking their most holy day. It is no secret that the terror-masters are hoping turn Muslim against Muslim, Sunni against Shiite, and Shiite against Sunni. As my partner here at netWMD put it:

Al Queda mastermind and piece of filth, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had written a letter, intercepted by the Americans, in which he detailed the desire to provoke Shi'ites by attacking them, to create enough discord to drive the Americans out of Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi's evil plans are backfiring. According to FOXNews.com:

In Ramadi, 70 miles west of the capital, Baghdad, nearly 1,000 people rallied to condemn the near simultaneous attacks against Shiite shrines Tuesday and called for national unity. ...

Sunni clerics, city officials, including the governor and members of the political parties, condemned the blasts. ...

But strife with the country's Sunni minority would hardly be in the interests of the Shiites, who stand on the verge of achieving their dream of real political power after generations of suppression. Civil war would threaten those dreams, and the community's influential clergy appeared eager to keep passions in check.

On Wednesday, Shiite clerics joined Sunni preachers in a march of thousands of mostly black-clad men in Baghdad.

Indeed, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, dropped his previous insistence on holding immediate elections. He now accepts the interim government that is being formed. Perhaps even more importantly, Iraqis agreed this week on a new constitution. According to the LA Times:

...the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council agreed on an interim constitution that is a marvel of liberalism. It guarantees free speech, free religion, free assembly and numerous other rights that are taken for granted in the West but are conspicuously absent in the Arab world. Despite an attempt by some clerics to impose Islamic dictates, the constitution says only that Sharia will be one source among many for Iraqi law. Sure, the document leaves important issues unresolved, such as the future role of political militias, but it's pretty impressive that agreement was reached at all by a fractious group of Iraqis.

This is miraculous: a budding democracy in the heart of the Arab world. I'm tired of hearing the worn out mantra of the left: "Yeah, Saddam was a bad guy, but..." There is no footnote on what is happening in Iraq. It may incur short-term pain, but the long-term gain is priceless. Iraq must become a democracy.