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Postcards from Around the World
ABC News' Terry McCarthy has been reporting on war, peace, and everything in between from all around the world for 20 years. He writes about daily life in the areas he is reporting from.
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Sectarian myths
July 24, 2006 6:35 PM
There is talk going around in the foreign media about dividing Baghdad into a Sunni west and a Shiite east to end the violence. The Tigris River as some Green Line separating the two sectors of the city. It may sound plausible from a distance, but on the ground in Baghdad things are a little more complicated. Over a meal recently an Iraqi acquaintance explained to me how intricately fused his family’s religious history is. (Excuses for generally not naming Iraqis in this and other dispatches – to be identified as talking with the American media could put lives at risk).
His father, who was a Sunni, fell in love with a Shiite woman, his family had no objections, and so they married. Together they moved to a predominantly Shiite district of the city where he opened his accounting office. Gradually the father started to drift towards the Shiite rhythms of worship, which differ only in detail from Sunni prayers. But because of his Sunni heritage, he and his wife brought up their three children to be quite open-minded in their religious views. My friend, the oldest son, says he is basically Shiite but does not feel strongly about it and prays and reads the Koran mostly on his own, rather than going to the husseiniya (the smaller houses of worship that Shia generally go to, as opposed to the larger mosques that are generally Sunni). He lives in a mixed neighborhood, and his friends are mostly Shiite and Christian. His brother married a Sunni wife and they now live in a mostly Sunni neighborhood. The third brother, the youngest, is still at college and has little allegiance to either group. Taking this family as a microcosm of Baghdad, how would they fare if the city were to be split up along sectarian lines, a la Beirut of the 1980’s? Would the two brothers not be allowed to meet? Would one have to divorce his wife? Would their parents have to split up after 30 years of marriage? “It is not possible,” says my friend. “Most Iraqis simply don’t think like that.”
So I called an Iraqi friend who lives in the west of the city yesterday to ask his views. He laughed over the phone. “It is funny you call me about this now. As we are speaking on the phone I have three workers here in my house, doing some construction work. I can see them through the window. One is a Sunni, another is Shiite and the third is a Kurd.” He chuckled again. “Oh, and the driver who is waiting for them outside - he is a Christian.”
Yes, he conceded, Iraqi politicians are exploiting the sectarian issue to increase their own power. And the insurgents are deliberately carrying out sectarian killings to make Baghdad less governable. But few ordinary Baghdadis are motivated by sectarian prejudice – for years this city has had extensive intermarriage, many mixed neighborhoods and an easy tolerance of the different religious and ethnic groups that make up Iraq – Sunni, Shia, Kurdish, Christian, Turkoman, Armenian… Dividing Baghdad into religious ghettos would mean tearing flesh from flesh. It would be a long and horrendously violent process. And it would destroy the colorful multi-layered character of one of the main crossroads of the Middle East for the past 1,300 years. Simple solutions rarely look so easy close up.
July 24, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (5)
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I find the similarities of the current problems in Iraq to the problems of the Spanish Civil War disturbing. Sects battling for control, vendettas resolved violently, common people of different "sides" manipulated very effectively by their governments or thought leaders -- these are typical in war-- the disturbing connection to the Spanish Civil War is that this drama in Iraq seems like a proxy war for what is to come just as the Spanish Civil War was a proxy for WWII. I'm not sure if what is occuring in Lebanon is like the small stones tumbling down the hillside before the avalanche to become a greater regional conflict, but so much passion has been fomented in Iraq that it is terrifying to speculate that the area will break out into full war soon. We have the anti-globalists/conservative traditionalists who are analagous to the Loyalists on one side, and then the capitalists/pro-US policy folks who are analagous to the Fascists on the other. It is a terrible shame for the Iraqi's that the US's misguided policy to wage war on their soil in the name of "anti-terrorism" will devastate the vibrant culture that has endured for over a thousand years.
Posted by: Sherry | Jul 24, 2006 7:23:05 PM
Are there any parallels with, or can any lessons be learned from, what happened to Serbia/Montenegro/Croatia after the departure of Tito, when long-simmering animosities boiled over in the once-harmonious Yugoslavia??
Posted by: Philip | Jul 24, 2006 11:31:43 PM
Well said, Terry. I admit that i never imagined myself as a Sunni Iraqi carrying an AK47 in the face of my Shiite brothers-many factors back up this belief one of them is that Iraqis from all sects and ethnicities are intermarried and there are way deeper social strings that bring the Iraqi society together. However, very important facts have been left out:
1- The role/interests of neighboring countries (Iranians vs. Saudis-- Sunnis vs. Shiites) on Iraq's soil. I don't think it's about the Americans any more, what is going on in Iraq is rather a regional cold war between regional powers and the victims are Iraqis and Iraq.
2- The ethnic cleansing that has been going on for nearly a year now; Sunni insurgents threatening Shiite families in Sunni neighborhoods and Shiite militiamen (so called death squads) doing the same thing in Shiite blocks.
3- A powerless government that has no authority, no role, no voice.... puppets placed to be called a "government."
Any way, to put an end for my confession in the first graph, I think Iraq is heading to the wrong direction. My brother who has a very recognized Sunni name had to make a fake ID with a Shiite name. He is carrying both, just like many Iraqis these days. Presenting the right ID depends pretty much on the looks and faces of those asking for it, and if you are lucky, you get home alive.
Forgive the troublesome mind and the pessimistic look.
See you soon,
Long Live Iraq
Posted by: Marwan | Jul 24, 2006 11:31:52 PM
I agree that the divisions in Iraq can't begin to be solved using geographical separation of the various enthnicities. It's a shame that the politicians are using ethnicity and religion to divide their people and to consolidate their own power instead of trying to unify their people and set religious and historical differences aside for reconstruction of Iraq. I believe that Sunnis and Shiites have more in common with one another than they would with Buddhists, for example.
Jeffrey Gettleman of "The New York Times" wrote an article for the August issue of "GQ" where he describes his return to Iraq after a couple of years of absence. Mr. Gettleman notes that the situation there is much worse, and that there is a pervasive sense of despair among the Iraqis that nothing will ameliorate the current situation. Until the Iraqis can move beyond their ethnic perspectives, and until their elected "leaders" can help them do so, Iraq will continue this "unofficial" civil war.
Posted by: chuck | Jul 25, 2006 9:23:04 AM
I try so very hard to assimilate all the information...try to intectually balance the various perspectives...and try desperately to sense a scintilla of hope...some where......alas!
Posted by: michael caolo | Jul 26, 2006 2:11:03 AM
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