Test of wills

US President George W Bush and the entire Bush administration should take heed of the strong anti-US feelings expressed this week by Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims in the city of Karbala, 80km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The pilgrims bore placards that read, "Bush equals Saddam" and "Down with the USA".

If the occupying US forces need any reminder of the powerful hold Islam has on the people of Iraq, they should focus their attention on Karbala where religious devotion was fused with patriotism. Millions of devout Shi'ites converged on the city from all over the country to commemorate the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohamed's grandson, Imam Hussein, in the seventh century.

Surely the tentative and glaringly unsuccessful attempts by the Bush administration to cajole Shi'ite leaders into participating in a post-Saddam Hussein Iraqi government can only lead to more trouble for Iraq and its neighbours.

The US cannot impose its own flawed brand of democracy on Iraq by sheer force. The Shi'ite Muslims of Iraq are as passionate about the Arab cause as their Sunni co-religionists and compatriots.

Iraq cannot be turned into a US colony or protectorate. The US cannot do everything by itself everywhere. The post-war record of US global peace-keeping and democracy-nurturing operations is, to say the least, dismal. American and British troops must vacate Iraq as soon as possible. The United Nations must take charge of the transition to multi-party democracy in Iraq. Greater involvement by the UN and its affiliate agencies is urgently needed at this stage.

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 24 - 30 April 2003 (Issue No. 635)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/635/ed.htm