There’s a fine line between support and interference, and the administration is treading carefully in Iraq, where the various factions have reached an impasse that’s preventing formation of its new democratic government.
U.S. officials have stepped up pressure on Iraqi leaders to settle their differences.
It’s a ticklish business. On the one hand, it’s essential for the Iraqis to stand on their own, without the U.S. pulling the strings. But on the other, this is an infant democracy struggling to get its feet, and diplomats are concerned that stalemate only strengthens the hand of Iraqi insurgents.
Among many factors, the situation is complicated by strident calls from some Shiite Muslim leaders to purge all former Baathist Party members from a new government.
That’s understandable, but political leaders should resist the urge because it could forestall stabilizing Iraq and defeating the insurgency.
The Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance wants to put on trial every former official, soldier or worker suspected of wrong-doing during more than three decades of Baathist rule.
Hussain Shahristani, a leader of the Shiite alliance, insists all former Baathists must be removed from the new Iraqi armed forces, intelligence and civil service. President Jalal Talabani and others want the Sunnis to take part in the new government as a way of blunting the insurgency and establishing a truly representative government. The Shiites and the Kurds suffered horribly under the Baathists, and justice must be served, but tempered, too. Indiscriminate payback could easily lead to instability and even civil war.
A broad purge would decimate security forces. Earlier this month, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld went to Baghdad to advise Iraqi leaders “not to clean house.” Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Kurdish and Shiite leaders to get moving on forming the government.
A purge would impede Sunni involvement in the government, said Tom Farer, dean of international studies at the University of Denver. “In purging anyone connected with the Baath Party … there’s bound to be a vast number with the number of years they were in power. You are screening out not only a large number of the Sunni elite but many ordinary members of the Sunni religious group. To me, that’s a recipe for civil war.”
Ved Nanda, DU professor of international studies says, “Personally, I think it’s destructive,” he said. “It’s not a wise policy and it will create a lot of division. … It’s a time in Iraq to achieve reconciliation.”
Iraqi leaders would do well to recognize that a deft formation of a broad-based government would help present a united front against the insurgents.
