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The recent mass protest movements that have been taking
place in several Iraqi governates can be classified as the beginning of a
spring revolution in that country. These protests took place when in al-Anbar, Nineveh,
Salahuddin, Mosul Fallujah and Al-Ramadi.
The Sunni protestors are reacting to Prime Minister
Nouri-al-Malik’s (Shiite) suppression against them and the jailing of some of
their Sunni political leadership including the Sunni Iraqi women’s ill
treatment in prison.
The arrest of members of the Sunni community in Iraq on
suspicion of terrorist activities is in reality a political policy to
marginalize their roles in the political arena.
The protestors were demanding:
1)
The resignation of Nouri al-Maliki’s government
2)
The release of many thousands of Sunni men and
women from prisons
3)
The cancelation of the law that was initiated by
the U.S. occupation forces banning the Baath party from the Iraqi political
arena and permitting their reentry into public life.
4)
The cancelation of the same law that dissolved
the Iraqi army and prohibited members of the previous Baath party from being
employed by the government.
5)
The improvement of the economic, social and
environmental conditions.
6)
Stop the Iraqi government support of the Syria
regime under Bashar al-Assad.
7)
Stop taking orders from the Iranian government
(Shiite regime)
8)
Removal of Article 4 from the Constitution and
stop implementing death sentences of suspected terrorists.
It is unfortunate to point out that the American invasion of
Iraq produced many negative consequences. First, it eliminated the
authoritarian regime of Saddam Hussein, which was the most secular in the
Middle East region. The previous regime suppressed any political religious
group from entering the Iraqi political arena. At the same time, Iraqi secular
Shiite individuals were incorporated into the regime and many occupied high
political positions in both the government and the army.
It should be of interest to refer to an order that was
issued by the American occupational authority in 2003 for the arrest of the 52
top Iraqi political officials. The American order was issued in the form of a
deck of cards of pictures of those who were to be arrested, which included
Saddam Hussein and his two sons. Thirty-seven out of the 52 people were Iraqi
Shiites. This reflects that the previous regime did not permit the practice of
sectarianism.
The phony type of democracy that the U.S. introduced in Iraq
encouraged sectarianism. It
should also be made clear that the religious political conflict between the
Sunni and Shiite sects has been part of Islamic history, which started after
the death of the Prophet Mohammad more than 1,300 years ago.
The Sunni-Shiite conflict has been manipulated by Western
colonialist powers, which has been part of their political strategy “divide and
rule”. This conflict has been a major source of instability, especially in the
Arab world and some Islamic states.
The impact of the Arab spring revolution as is reflected in
Iraq at the present is also going on in Syria, where the Alawi (Shiite)
minority regime is facing a Sunni majority rebellion that has been going on for
nearly two years. In Bahrain, the situation is the opposite, where a Sunni
minority is suppressing the Shiite majority.
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