By Sue BanerjeeThe Daily Northwestern
Nearly 150 years ago, an American president united the country, North and South, slave and free. “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” Abraham Lincoln said. President Bush now faces a similar dilemma in a country that has become a battleground for religious radicals – no, not ours. As a civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq continues to escalate, Iraqi politicians plan to resolve the conflict by ethnically dividing the country. But is this the key to stability?
History would say no. Many conflicts around the world emerged after a territorial division of a country was made to reach a temporary compromise. For example, after decades of foreign occupation and war in the Koreas, the peninsula was divided into two countries. But in the last half-century, the partition has intensified regional conflict; indeed, North Korean nuclear ambitions were probably fueled by the continued American support of South Korea. The political divide has trumped Korea’s shared history and culture. The lesson here is clear: Dividing a nation can create more problems than it solves.
But the Iraqi Parliament recently passed a plan that allows the formation of autonomous regions if approved by a third of the provincial legislators and a popular referendum. This would make it easy to create a Kurdish bloc in the north, a Shiite bloc in the South and a Sunni bloc in the center of Iraq.
The intent of the law is to resolve the tensions between the conflicting groups and to dole out territory to pacify power-hungry clerics. However, by decentralizing the government, a political vacuum might develop that could encourage ambitious tribal leaders to continue violence against other groups.
The law does safeguard against any immediate changes by putting a moratorium on autonomy proposals for 18 months. But so far, the plan satisfies no one. Many lawmakers, Sunni and Shiite alike, boycotted the meeting altogether. Sunnis refuse to agree on any federalist plan before Americans pull out, and some Shiites want their own autonomous state in the south.
Socially speaking, it ignores the interests of minority populations in the regional blocs that could develop and opens the door to further fragmentation of a precarious population. And from an economic standpoint, it does not address the issue of oil and revenue sharing among the groups.
The announcement by Iraqi lawmakers coincides with another violent month in Iraq. Sectarian violence continues to threaten stability around the country and the Bush Administration is running out of answers.
Ultimately, regional governments may solve the religious strife gripping Iraq, but lawmakers should not be so hasty in handing over control to a few tribal leaders without a more specific game plan. You know what they say about those who don’t learn from history.
Medill sophomore Sue Banerjee can be reached at [email protected].
