Iraq, Arab States Should End Sectarian Rhetoric, Policies
Mustafa al-Kadhimi writes that there is common ground for Iraq to rebuild its relationships with its Arab neighbors, if all parties can cease sectarian rhetoric and agendas.
Is there any doubt that Iraq’s foreign relations, especially those with Turkey and the Arab states, suffer from a systematic imbalance? We might attribute this imbalance to Iraqi politics, and — just as Iraq’s neighbors have stated — that the Iraqi government has not tried to build close ties with its Sunni Arab neighbors. Instead, it was led by impulse to build strategic relationships with Shiite Iran. We might even agree with the Iraqi government’s point of view, specifically that of the main Shiite parties, which believe that the neighboring Arab countries and Turkey — with their political method — have adopted a position of enmity since 2003 vis-à-vis the new Iraqi situation due to the “Shiite” regime in power.
However, attempts to reduce the political imbalance to an “ideological-sectarian” dispute won’t lead us anywhere. The historic, geographical, sectarian map makes it impossible to determine who is responsible for the Iraqi-Arab estrangement.
The truth is that this imbalance goes back to the pre-2003 period, specifically following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the former’s engagement ever since in a policy of turning its back on Arab countries. The general atmosphere of tension between Iraq and its neighboring countries goes back to the aggressive methods adopted by Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Yet, the new Iraqi regime — founded on the ruins of its predecessor — has not succeeded much in rebuilding relations with neighboring countries. This brings up many questions, amid the insistence of those countries on turning Iraq into a playground for regional ambitions and settlements.
