When the first elections were held in 2005, I was very optimistic. I thought it was going to be the end of an era that filled our life with blood and disasters. I was very happy reporting at the day among people who really wanted to end the disasters. But as days were passing, I was proved wrong. Things moved from bad to worse.
One of the reasons that proved me wrong was Jafari's government whose failure was demonstrated in all aspects. Insurgent operations reached its peak. Many Iraqi people, Iraqi army and police, and U.S. forces were killed in an endless flow of blood in a country devastated by successive wars and sanctions.
Jafari leads one of the most famous Shiite religious parties that fought Saddam and had lost hundreds-if not thousands- of martyrs fighting Saddam and his gang. His winning to the power of leading Iraq was his chance to say "That's it. It's our turn now!" He fought every single thing that may return Sunnis or non-criminal Baathists to power, even for minor posts. He considered reconciliation with Baathists was a "red line".
During his era, many sides called for the unity of Iraq and the national reconciliation that was supposed to save Iraq from the continuous blood shed among political leaders who deceived the U.S. administration by claming they look for the benefit of Iraq which was later clarified as looking for their own interests.
On the other hand, Sunni politicians and religious men, who neither took part in the political process nor the elections, were pulling the rope from the other side. They worsened the situation claming that they were victimized by the Shiites denying the fact that they were giving the chance to participate in building the country but they didn't take it willingly.
Eventually, Jafari's Shiite government was pulling the rope from one side and the Sunnis were pulling from the opposite side. In all cases, the rope was neither pulled to one side nor was cut. It remained like this till today waiting for someone to do something to stop the pulling.
The very first serious attempt to prepare for plans of reconciliation in Iraq was marked by tension among the political and religious leaders. The meeting which was held on Nov. 2005 in Cairo failed in making viewpoints come close. Jafari stuck to the idea of having "no room for Baathists in Iraq." While Harith al-Dhari, head of Muslim Scholars Association in Iraq stuck to the fact that most of the insurgent operations in Iraq are done by resistance without denouncing the killing of the innocent Iraqi civilians committed by Zarqawi and his gang.
The disagreed factions came back to Baghdad with faces covered with failure and hatred to each other increasing the tension which caused in killing thousands of innocent people.
When the second elections came up, some Sunni political factions realized that it's their time to take part in this process. While others continued being stubborn and considered the whole thing a play or a game. The elections were held and as everybody knows, Shiites won the majority of the seats in the parliament which struggled to hold its first meeting and choose a speaker to monitor the government's performance for four years. The government was not formed immediately after the elections. As usual, the politicians were busy fighting of who is going to take which.
Since he was chosen as a president for a second term, Iraqi President, Jalal al-Talbani, stressed on the notion of NATIONAL RECONCILIATION. At the same time, Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, announced his will to control the situation "in an iron fist" which is the right thing to do at the mean time. He vowed to solve the problem of the militias which puts him in a difficult test in front of his people.
Until now, Maliki has shown some of his will to solve the deterioration of the security. The very first thing his government was cooperating with the US forces in killing Iraq's worst terrorist, Zarqawi.
Talbani is now moving in another road which leads to the same road Maliki is moving in.
In a televised speech on al-Hurra news channel, Talbani announced that the Reconciliation plan which was hammered out after extensive negotiations and deliberations by various parties will be announced by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at the next parliament session on Sunday. The Washington Post reported that Maliki's new plan to promote reconciliation among Iraq's rival factions will offer amnesty to Iraqis who have "carried weapons" but not to those who have committed serious crimes, according to Iraqi politicians who have read the proposal.
"It says that the government will issue an amnesty for all those who have not committed crimes against the people of Iraq and the friends of Iraq," the paper quoted Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh saying.
This initiative came after months of secret talks involving Talabani, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador, and seven Sunni insurgent groups, The Times reported.
Talbani told The Times that after a “summit” in Baghdad about a month ago the groups made clear their willingness to commence talks with the Iraqi Government, although he was awaiting a formal response.
Many political leaders here say that the violence plaguing Iraq cannot be halted without engaging insurgents in political discussions. But Maliki's reconciliation plan does not include offering amnesty to members of al-Qaeda or to loyalists of former president Saddam Hussein who committed war crimes, Iraqi officials told the Post.
Before the forthcoming official announcement of the amnesty, some Iraqi and American officials objected on some of the points of the plan. Al-Hurra said sources had revealed that Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of SCIRI, and the head of the United Iraqi Alliance in Parliament had objected to some of the provisions contained in the plan, but it is expected that negotiations and talks on amendments will go on for some time.
The Times said that one big potential obstacle is whether the US would be willing to grant an amnesty to insurgents who have killed US soldiers but who are not members of extreme groups such as al-Qaeda. The Bush Administration is thought to be split on the issue. However, the Post said that earlier proposals suggested offering pardons to Iraqis who have attacked U.S. troops but not to those who attacked Iraqis, an idea the U.S. Senate strongly denounced. The new plan does not make that distinction, Iraqi officials said.
The conference of national reconciliation in Iraq, due to have opened on June 22, have been postponed until the first week of August. The Arab League's representative in Iraq said, “The commission will convene on July 1 to prepare for the conference, which will be held here in Baghdad during the first week of August." He justified that by saying that everyone wants "more time to prepare for the conference, and to be sure that it will produce results."
In my own opinion, things are moving in the right direction so far. No serious results have showed up yet, but it may by course of time. All we need is to support any good effort which we feel is for our benefit. We need to restore our Iraq back and stop the bloodshed. Let's wait and see. We've been patient for decades. It's not hard to wait more for the good results. For us, life is lost and is almost meaningless but let's hope and work to make it better for the coming generations.
One of the reasons that proved me wrong was Jafari's government whose failure was demonstrated in all aspects. Insurgent operations reached its peak. Many Iraqi people, Iraqi army and police, and U.S. forces were killed in an endless flow of blood in a country devastated by successive wars and sanctions.
Jafari leads one of the most famous Shiite religious parties that fought Saddam and had lost hundreds-if not thousands- of martyrs fighting Saddam and his gang. His winning to the power of leading Iraq was his chance to say "That's it. It's our turn now!" He fought every single thing that may return Sunnis or non-criminal Baathists to power, even for minor posts. He considered reconciliation with Baathists was a "red line".
During his era, many sides called for the unity of Iraq and the national reconciliation that was supposed to save Iraq from the continuous blood shed among political leaders who deceived the U.S. administration by claming they look for the benefit of Iraq which was later clarified as looking for their own interests.
On the other hand, Sunni politicians and religious men, who neither took part in the political process nor the elections, were pulling the rope from the other side. They worsened the situation claming that they were victimized by the Shiites denying the fact that they were giving the chance to participate in building the country but they didn't take it willingly.
Eventually, Jafari's Shiite government was pulling the rope from one side and the Sunnis were pulling from the opposite side. In all cases, the rope was neither pulled to one side nor was cut. It remained like this till today waiting for someone to do something to stop the pulling.
The very first serious attempt to prepare for plans of reconciliation in Iraq was marked by tension among the political and religious leaders. The meeting which was held on Nov. 2005 in Cairo failed in making viewpoints come close. Jafari stuck to the idea of having "no room for Baathists in Iraq." While Harith al-Dhari, head of Muslim Scholars Association in Iraq stuck to the fact that most of the insurgent operations in Iraq are done by resistance without denouncing the killing of the innocent Iraqi civilians committed by Zarqawi and his gang.
The disagreed factions came back to Baghdad with faces covered with failure and hatred to each other increasing the tension which caused in killing thousands of innocent people.
When the second elections came up, some Sunni political factions realized that it's their time to take part in this process. While others continued being stubborn and considered the whole thing a play or a game. The elections were held and as everybody knows, Shiites won the majority of the seats in the parliament which struggled to hold its first meeting and choose a speaker to monitor the government's performance for four years. The government was not formed immediately after the elections. As usual, the politicians were busy fighting of who is going to take which.
Since he was chosen as a president for a second term, Iraqi President, Jalal al-Talbani, stressed on the notion of NATIONAL RECONCILIATION. At the same time, Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, announced his will to control the situation "in an iron fist" which is the right thing to do at the mean time. He vowed to solve the problem of the militias which puts him in a difficult test in front of his people.
Until now, Maliki has shown some of his will to solve the deterioration of the security. The very first thing his government was cooperating with the US forces in killing Iraq's worst terrorist, Zarqawi.
Talbani is now moving in another road which leads to the same road Maliki is moving in.
In a televised speech on al-Hurra news channel, Talbani announced that the Reconciliation plan which was hammered out after extensive negotiations and deliberations by various parties will be announced by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at the next parliament session on Sunday. The Washington Post reported that Maliki's new plan to promote reconciliation among Iraq's rival factions will offer amnesty to Iraqis who have "carried weapons" but not to those who have committed serious crimes, according to Iraqi politicians who have read the proposal.
"It says that the government will issue an amnesty for all those who have not committed crimes against the people of Iraq and the friends of Iraq," the paper quoted Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh saying.
This initiative came after months of secret talks involving Talabani, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador, and seven Sunni insurgent groups, The Times reported.
Talbani told The Times that after a “summit” in Baghdad about a month ago the groups made clear their willingness to commence talks with the Iraqi Government, although he was awaiting a formal response.
Many political leaders here say that the violence plaguing Iraq cannot be halted without engaging insurgents in political discussions. But Maliki's reconciliation plan does not include offering amnesty to members of al-Qaeda or to loyalists of former president Saddam Hussein who committed war crimes, Iraqi officials told the Post.
Before the forthcoming official announcement of the amnesty, some Iraqi and American officials objected on some of the points of the plan. Al-Hurra said sources had revealed that Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of SCIRI, and the head of the United Iraqi Alliance in Parliament had objected to some of the provisions contained in the plan, but it is expected that negotiations and talks on amendments will go on for some time.
The Times said that one big potential obstacle is whether the US would be willing to grant an amnesty to insurgents who have killed US soldiers but who are not members of extreme groups such as al-Qaeda. The Bush Administration is thought to be split on the issue. However, the Post said that earlier proposals suggested offering pardons to Iraqis who have attacked U.S. troops but not to those who attacked Iraqis, an idea the U.S. Senate strongly denounced. The new plan does not make that distinction, Iraqi officials said.
The conference of national reconciliation in Iraq, due to have opened on June 22, have been postponed until the first week of August. The Arab League's representative in Iraq said, “The commission will convene on July 1 to prepare for the conference, which will be held here in Baghdad during the first week of August." He justified that by saying that everyone wants "more time to prepare for the conference, and to be sure that it will produce results."
In my own opinion, things are moving in the right direction so far. No serious results have showed up yet, but it may by course of time. All we need is to support any good effort which we feel is for our benefit. We need to restore our Iraq back and stop the bloodshed. Let's wait and see. We've been patient for decades. It's not hard to wait more for the good results. For us, life is lost and is almost meaningless but let's hope and work to make it better for the coming generations.
