CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 25 (AScribe Newswire) -- By its widely opposed invasion of Iraq, the United States fulfilled one of the fondest dreams of the late Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - the destruction of the regime of Saddam Hussein. The American military presence could help realize another of his aspirations as well - an Islamic revolution in neighboring Iraq.
Despite the vast historical, cultural, social, economic and political differences between Iran and Iraq, America's past experience in Iran can teach the Bush administration important lessons about managing the situation in Iraq. Consider:
1. The Iraqi people of all ethnic, sectarian and religious stripes are as determined as the Iranians to remain independent of all forms of American control. The Iraqi people detested the repressive Saddam Hussein regime, but they admired Hussein's defiance of America: David standing against Goliath.
2. The Iraqi Shia movement could be radicalized and turned hostile to America, as was the Iranian Shia movement, should America attempt to play one faction against another in an effort to fill the power vacuum with "pro-American" clerics. Such a simplistic approach could prove disastrous, as evidenced by the assasination in Najaf of the American-backed Abdel Majid Khoei, a cleric and the son of one of Iraq's most revered Shia clerics.
This month's massive Iraqi commemoration of the fortieth-day anniversary (Arba'in) of the martyred Imam Hussein featured anti-American slogans, as did the Iranian commemorations during the Iranian revolution. As American pressure against the Iranian revolutionaries increased, anti-American sentiments deepened, and every fortieth-day anniversary (Chelleh) in Iran provided an opportunity for an ever-greater number of people to rally behind anti-American banners. The same could easily happen among the Iraqi Shias in the south should the Bush administration try to contain the Shia movement.
3. Just as it failed in Iran, the American-backed model of secular democracy is doomed to failure in Iraq. "Secularism" in America is associated with democracy, but in the Middle East it has historically been characterized by domestic tyranny. Many Iranians associated "secularism" with the repressive Pahlavi shahs, just as most Iraqis equate it with the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. In response to growing anti-American sentiments among the Shias, Bush administration officials have suddenly begun to call for "Islamic democracy" for Iraq, with the essentially secular, Turkish model in mind. That approach is misguided as well. The Turks developed their own form of democracy, why not the Iraqis? One size does not fit all.
The Bush administration should engage all Iraqi peoples on the ground, regardless of their religious or ethnic affiliations. The United States cannot and should not oppose the Shia majority's aspirations in Iraq. Since most Shia factions are opposed to the American presence, as are many Sunnis, the Bush administration should not exaggerate the importance of the current "pro-American" sentiments of the Kurdish minority.
As for American diplomatic efforts with other countries interested in Iraq's future, a more effective approach would be to engage Iran and Syria in dialogue rather than by single-mindedly pressuring them. The Iraqi people themselves would oppose any Syrian or Iranian attempts at domination. The Bush administration also would do well to welcome the participation of the European Union, the United Nations and the Arab League in rebuilding Iraq. The motives of an America acting alone would be viewed as suspect throughout the Middle East, but U.S. participation in a multilateral effort at reconstruction would be seen as legitimate.
Thomas Jefferson aspired to the spread of liberty around the world, as does Bush, but Jefferson believed that education, rather than coercion, was the best instrument. He wrote: "Enlighten the people generally, tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like the evil spirits at the dawn of day." Let us hope President Bush will heed his advice in Iraq.
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R.K. Ramazani is professor emeritus of politics at the
University of Virginia, author of "Revolutionary Iran:
Challenge and Response in the Middle East," and co-editor of
"Iran at the Crossroads."
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