by Shaun Casey
The speed and power of postwar Shiite public demonstrations in Iraq this past spring clearly caught the U.S. government off guard, and it becomes clear with each passing week that the U.S. military, unfortunately, is ill prepared to deal with religious pluralism in Iraq.
The visceral response by groups that were excluded from the April 15 meeting of various religious and ethnic leaders in Ur highlighted the scope of the problem. If the U.S. government is to have any success in nurturing the emergence of a vibrant civil society in Iraq as a precursor to some form of democracy, it will have to address this lack of capacity quickly. Yet admissions of weakness do not seem to be in the diplomatic portfolio of the Bush administration.This oversight is tragic, and it was preventable. There are resources both within the government and in the wider world to help create and sustain complex grassroots interfaith dialogues. For the moment it seems that as long as Iraq's redevelopment is primarily in the hands of the military, no such resources will be made available.
Who exactly has the skills to nurture the beginnings of a civil society that would allow the various religious and ethnic groups to interact in a nonviolent and constructive fashion, and how would we get them set up in Iraq? There are scores of experienced scholars and practitioners in religiously based conflict mediation and peacemaking. So far, they apparently are not welcome in the postwar Iraq reconstruction.
In early April, without any media fanfare, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) named a director for faith-based initiatives. This is one locus for offering grants to experienced interfaith agents to begin grassroots conversations among the various religious and ethnic groups in Iraq. Similarly, the United States Institute for Peace has a successful track record in funding local programs that promote religion and peacemaking.
In order for true civil society to emerge, local leaders need to engage one another, in addition to gatherings of elites. The tough question in Iraq is whether or not these diverse groups can find a way of living together that does not lead to the violent exclusion of all religious and political alternatives save one. The birth and sustenance of such a civil society is by no means guaranteed. But it seems likely that without a significant investment of resources by our government, its chances are nil.
