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Road map for peace in Iraq

Z A Khan
FINALLY George W. Bush at the fag end of his second term in White House has responded to the calls to approve the plans of troops withdrawal from beleaguered Iraq. Only God alone knows whether Bush's attitude has been prompted by the pressure of the tormented, frustrated, and 'getting poorer everyday' people of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine and the kith and kin of the coalition soldiers deployed there.
Whatever may have led President Bush to agree to this plan, one might think that 2011 is long enough a time to pull out foreign soldiers from the torched and tormented Iraq, as these three years may extend (created through ruse) the period of stay to train the homegrown guardians and soldiers who have mastered puppetry.
Although a fragile peace seems to be prevailing in Iraq at present we should not ignore the nagging concern that is challenging the peace effort, which is mutual apprehension of each other's commitment to real peace. At a time when sounds of explosion and wailing of mothers and children is commonplace, we do not observe any conscious effort to draw Iraqis of all warring factions to a dialogue to agree to a set of rationales that can help draw up ground rules for peace.
Factionalized Iraqis are now asking 'have we been able to ensure peace or protection of life and liberty that was not in order during Bathist Regime' that conducted state sponsored terrorism? Is this why Iraqis have not yet abandoned a fratricidal campaign? Why is Iraq made to be embroiled in the Middle East (ME) imbroglio is a question that intrigues many experts and strategists. I have no hesitation to join those who have declared that Iraq is a hostage to 'Oil for peace' strategy and Iraq agreed to supply oil uninterrupted at dictated terms to dictated buyers and played a low key role to allow passage of the plans to arm to the teeth a diehard western ally to assail the detractors, they would perhaps have been left alone.
One wonders at the possibility of peace returning to Iraq. Mr. Maliki is now sitting on the hot seat and has not been able to claim success cither in recovering the disarrayed economy or in surmounting the politics of disharmony and division now existing in Iraq. The division in the heart and mind of the Iraqi people is wid-
ening, which can be seen by the policy pursued by the Shiias, the Sunnis and by the Kurds. A practicable parley does not seem to be in the offing. A few discussions that failed did not have a recipe for long lasting peace, nor did they promise selfgovernance in Iraq. The premise of the dialogues held was restricted to restoring
peace only. The issue of withdrawal of foreign troops and tlicir non-involvement in the future discourse hardly came under discussion for finding sustainable solution for security concerns. Even the other core problems that inhabits possibilities of peace and progress in Iraq did not receive
due priority. To my understanding, any future dialogue about Iraq should involve various factions within Iraq, countries neighboring Iraq that exercise influence there and those that pull strings from a distance.
It is not difficult to realize that the so-called scheme of things to make world
'safe' from terrorist attacks has been crafted and partially implemented by using brute force; but these acts of tenor-ism will probably resurface if a long lasting solution is not found. If an acceptable solution is not found, the world will once again be thrown into quagmire, which may
snowball into a calamity.
Should the world preside over a possible deterioration of peace that may make it a precinct of terror? It is about time we endeavoured ceaselessly to remove the impediments that may shatter our dreams of making our world a global home. No one can seize our rights to
peace and protection. To ensure this, we have to combine our wisdom to sensitize the people at large to voice eagerness to live in peace at home and elsewhere. Countries in ME should immediately engage themselves to focus on issues of local insecurity and curve out a compre-
hensive and sustainable decision to address those by themselves. If participation from outside is inevitable, only then the UN can be mandated to broker peace either by preempting or by enforcing. I strongly feel that gun running must be discouraged. UN should enact provision to deter or impose economic sanctions on defaulting countries that clandestinely promote gun running.
Size of the Armed Forces and stockpiling of weapons disproportionate to the size of landmass and population should be downsized under the supervision of the UN. Israel should not be encouraged to act as policeman of the west in ME. Al Fatah and Hamas, the two warring factions within the state of Palestine should not be supported by anybody, rather both the factions should be asked to mend fences to construct a peaceful Palestine.
Any outsider found instigating to create problems must be admonished and thrown in the cold. The Israeli policy 'you kill one, we keep on killing' must be abandoned forthwith. An international arbiter may be engaged and if the arbitration efforts fail due to anybody's intransigence, the defaulter must face isolation and sanction. The Coalition forces should immediately withdraw paving way for deployment of UN peace enforces and peacekeepers. The presence of outsiders in trade and commerce in ME should be discouraged unless allowed, following the local rules of business. Iraqis should be invited to take control of all local business including the management of oil resources. Countries neighboring Israel must abandon their innimicall stance towards her and recognize the pre 1967 border of Israel.
Dialogues must start soon without any outside guardianship, to arrive at a concord for peace in ME in which all the stakeholders should attend with two agenda. These are: recognition of the sovereign Israel with 1967 border, and withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq. I can see that countries outside may not agree to such a move on the plea that unless some power is there to police the implementation of agreement (if at all), the exercise to ensure peace in ME may end in jeopardy. Let us not forget that any wrong decision taken at the dictation of non-ME power to protect its own stake may set into motion a whole train of traumatic events dashing all hopes for peace.
The author Is a freelancer.