The spate of suicide attacks in post-Saddam Iraq continues to spiral even as the country grapples to come to terms with a new constitution which has raised more questions about the future of Iraq’s polity and governing structure. A last-minute compromise to gain Sunni support on the draft constitution would have come as a big relief to the US seemingly worried about the country’s future since its forces unceremoniously dislodged Saddam Hussein in 2003. One of the immediate challenges before the Bush administration would be to contain the level of violence and disorder which is threatening to take the country into what many fear could be a prolonged period of near civil war. In such a situation Washington would do well to ensure that the current Iraqi leadership works on a broad consensus by drawing in the wide spectrum of the Iraqi populace into the democratic process which has been set into motion under US tutelage.
While the ousting of the Ba’ath Party and President Saddam Hussein was broadly supported by the Iraqi people, its political future has since remained uncertain, as the power vacuum left behind has not been easy to fill in. Incidents of insurgents attacking civilian targets, coalition forces and newly formed Iraqi institutions have only undermined the emergence of post-war and post-Saddam stability.
Addressing the concerns of the Sunni community within Iraq would be the key not only in getting the constitution approved in Saturday’s referendum but bringing them onboard to participate in the political process to build the new Iraqi government as Sunni support is likely to weaken the widespread fear that the constitution is being forced on them. Without a broader consensus, there is every possibility of the country turning more violent. US officials who are doing most of the spade work in rebuilding the country must take into consideration the unique demographic profile of the country before imposing any structure on the Iraqi people. Failure to do so would give extremists any amount of excuse to derail the ongoing democratic process. It is well known that Central Iraq has dominance of Sunni Muslim. It is also regarded as the breeding ground of the recent insurgency and source of most of the fighters opposing the Americans and their Iraqi allies.
One obvious reason for this is that in post-Saddam Iraq, the Sunnis have been pushed into political oblivion with the ouster of Saddam who had led a largely Sunni dominated regime that had enjoyed the fruits of political power for several decades now. Today, the scales of power have tilted overwhelmingly in favour of the Shiite and Kurdish groups (largely ignored during the Saddam regime) and their leaders are in key government positions and their aspiration for more autonomy in the regions they dominate has more or less been addressed by the draft constitution.
Against this backdrop the latest compromise deal reached between the Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish powerbrokers on the charter ahead of Saturday’s referendum would hopefully give the Sunnis an equal opportunity to address their own political position in any future government. Otherwise the post-Saddam accession would only appear more uncertain.
