Arab League Proposes Reconciliation
Conference for Iraq
Over two years
after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq,
the Arab League last month finally made its first public remarks on the
situation in the country.Worrying that conditions
in Iraq have grown steadily worse since the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein
regime, and that the country is now on the brink of civil war, the League has
begun to stress the importance of reconciliation.
The League,
comprised of the world’s 22 Arab countries, sent a delegation including League
leader Amir Moussa to tour Iraq
on October 17 and 18."This is an Arab mission to help Iraq," Arab League Assistant Secretary General for
Political Affairs, Ahmad bin Hilli
told Al-Jazeera television network."We are here to talk about the building of Iraq. We have
talks to our brothers in Iraq
about the best ways to help them preserve the high interests of Iraq,
not the interests of any specific group." The League has announced
it plans to organize a reconciliation conference to be held at an as-yet
undetermined time.
In the past, the
Arab League has been dominated by countries with strong ties to U.S. imperialism (Saudi
Arabia, Jordan,
Kuwait, Baharain,
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates) and has refused to issue a
condemnation of the U.S.
invasion of Iraq
two years ago, despite the overwhelming opposition to the invasion in the Arab
world. This popular opposition has, if anything, grown stronger since the March
2003 invasion, with coverage of American atrocities against the Iraqi people
appearing daily in Arab newspapers and on Arab television.
However, the continued support for U.S.
imperialism by some of the League’s members has meant that it has not been able
to openly condemn the occupation. The delegation’s recent visit is seen as an
oblique criticism of American incompetence in Iraq.The League’s main concern seems to be to
prevent civil war, with many Arab leaders worried that a Sunni or Kurdish
insurrection in Iraq
could spread beyond the country’s borders and threaten their own regimes.
The planned reconciliation
conference, appears to be the League’s attempt to
establish some form of government in Iraq that could exist in the event
of an American withdrawal from the country.Despite immense pressure from the U.S.-installed Shi’ite
and Kurdish coalition government in Iraq that any conference the League
organizes must exclude the resistance movement, the
League has so far been firm that any conference must include all sides.
The League delegation to Iraq held
meetings with members of the Iraqi government as well as with representatives
of all the different political forces in the country.The
decision to include all political representatives in a reconciliation
conference was rejected by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani immediately after
meeting the delegation, saying while “moderate Sunnis were welcome”, no one
involved in violence could be included.
However, in an interview
with the BBC League leader Moussa said the reconciliation conference needs to
include all factions in Iraq
to try and avert civil war.“The
situation is so tense, a civil war could erupt at any moment, although some
people would say it is already there,” he said.Moussa also told the BBC “There are a lot of people … playing games with
the future of Iraq
and there is no clear strategy, there is no clear leadership.”The League, Moussa says, also plans to convoke a special meeting of Arab foreign
ministers in December to further discuss the situation in Iraq.