Murky origins of the Iraq crisis

On the same day, some 41 people, mostly civilians, were killed and injured in a terrorist attack.

The day Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari introduced the nominees for his cabinet, 150 people were either killed or injured by car bombs in Baghdad and the outskirts of town.

A woman representative of the Iraqi National Assembly was assassinated on the day before the introduction of the new cabinet, probably as a warning to MPs not to approve Jaafari’s cabinet.

On May 1, a car bomb exploded in Tal Afar, about 150 kilometers east of the Syrian border, killing 25 and wounding more than 50 people gathered for the funeral of a Kurdish Democratic Party official.

And on May 4, a suicide bomber in Irbil killed at least 60 and injured 150 people.

What are the main reasons for the continuing security crisis in Iraq two years since the beginning of the occupation of the country by U.S. forces and their allies? Why should Iraqis have to witness almost daily car bombings with over 138,000 U.S. soldiers and thousands of British troops stationed in their country?

Who is behind these terrorist attacks? What are the U.S. forces and their allies doing to resolve the crisis? Why are they incapable of preventing such incidents? Are they intentionally refraining from taking the measures necessary to neutralize the terrorist attacks and increase security for Iraqi citizens?

Who is offering financial support to the Shura Council of the Mujahidin, the Ansar al-Sunna, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi’s organization, and dozens of other unknown groups which are claiming responsibility for terrorist attacks?

It is quite suspicious that these terrorist groups claim that they are only targeting the U.S. occupying troops and their allies’ soldiers while most of the victims of these attacks are Iraqi civilians.

These malicious groups are even trying to trigger a civil war between the Sunnis and Shias so that they can achieve their ominous objectives in the shadow of this bloody war. However, in light of the awareness of Iraq’s religious leaders and other citizens, it seems that the terrorist groups’ efforts are doomed to failure.

In addition, the religious beliefs, the social structure, and the tradition of peaceful coexistence among all groups in the Iraqi nation are so strong that even during the reign of former dictator Saddam Hussein, all the endeavors to divide these Muslims failed because all Muslims, whether Shia or Sunni, keep in mind the sayings of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him and his family), who enjoined them to maintain unity.

Of course, one should not neglect the role of the U.S. forces in the daily explosions in Iraq. Their inability to stop these terrorist attacks, despite their modern military equipment, is suspicious. Many analysts believe the U.S. occupiers are trying to spark a sectarian war in Iraq to dismember the country.

Other commentators say that U.S. troops are training the new Iraqi police and army at an extremely slow pace in order to create an excuse to remain in Iraq, i.e. that the Iraqis are unprepared to establish security in the country.

In order to resolve the current crisis, the Iraqi government should purge the remnants of the Baathist regime from its security and intelligence organizations. This must be done, despite the warnings and opposition of the United States, because the Iraqi government will only be able to seriously confront the wave of terrorist attacks through the establishment of trustworthy security and intelligence organizations.

The recent suggestion of Adnan al-Dalimi, the head of a Sunni charity organization in Iraq, to hold a conference of all Iraq’s ethnic and religious groups to examine ways to end the violence and terrorism and to maintain unity should be seriously considered by Jaafari’s cabinet.

Also, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s suggestion to use the militias who fought against the Baathist regime to deal with the violence and terrorism is an idea worth considering as a strategy to resolve the security crisis.

Hopefully, the Jaafari government will be able to restore security in the country so Iraqis can experience the sweet taste of peace after over two years of violence and terrorist attacks in which they could not even get one good night of sleep.

SA/HG

End

MNA