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We Will Join U.S.-Installed Government: Iraqi Scholar
"You are counted now in any U.S.-installed government. Take to the streets to make the Americans hear your voice and know your weight," the head of the society of Iraqi scholars, Dr. Ahmad al-Kubaizi, addressed a throng of Imams and scholars, who huddled together in an auditorium at the society's headquarters. Asked about the new Islamic drive in Iraq in view of the country's religious mosaic, Kubaizi told IslamOnline.net that the Iraqi people, who had fallen down under decades of unspeakable and unprecedented intimidation, are in a dire need to have a "respite," in politics terms they need a transitional period to help them get rid of "the Saddamite terror."
| That was kind of our idea, too... |
"A judge can not reckon on the testimony of the hungry or the terrified. The Iraqis lived more than 35 years under unprecedented intimidation and they come up now to face the stark reality of the earth's most oppressive occupation," he said. "Trapped between the horrors of the sad old days and the premonitions of the future, no one can blame them for any impromptu reactionâŠthey can say and do anything. Any two consecutive actions must be broken up by some kind of a respite. The Iraqis desperately need such a respite."
| That's my feeling, too. Until there's an interim administration in place, the political situation in Iraq is an anarchy by definition — there is no government, except for what's established at the local level by pickup teams. Some of the pickup teams will be worth keeping, some will have to be tossed... |
But when asked by IslamOnline.net about the current "party anarchy" in the war-battered country, where every now and then a new party, society or faction pops out, he said his society serves as a gathering place for all Iraqi scholars. Kubaizi noted that the Iraqi National Movement (INM) party -- set up by the society â is not grounded on an Islamic basis but aimed at rebuilding a new Iraq. "It is a separate party for all Iraqis, whether Muslims, Christians, Jews or Kurds, and it will take me some 20 years from now to be asked about the Islamic drive in post-Saddam Iraq," he said. "The party does not adopt an Islamic or un-Islamic ideology, but it aspires to establish a civilian and just Iraq. We must first find the lost Iraq and then steer it forward."
| If this guy isn't just saying what he thinks we want to hear, he's going to be a resource for rebuilding the country... |
Asked about the U.S. presence on the Iraqi soil, al-Kubaizi said it is their destiny and they must live with it, stressing that all Iraqis rejected the occupation but it was a necessity at least for the time being. "I myself see that their (the Americans) presence is a necessity⊠We need the atmosphere of security they provide even if it is not predominant but we need it," he argued. "We are objective people and our country is under occupation and militarily defeated. (Retired U.S. Gen. Jay) Garner is a military governor who is in charge now and we are going to open a dialogue with the Americans, since we are the indigenous people of this country and they are foreigners. We will take from them whatever we need and give them whatever they need."
| Do that, and ten years from now Iraq will be a decent place... |
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-04-26 |
