Will There Be Peace in Iraq?

Introduction

A sign-on statement opposing war on Iraq occupied this space from early this year until the end of April. The statement received extraordinary levels of support - more than 40,000 individuals and more than 370 community groups, congregations, and parishes representing tens of thousands more Canadians formally endorsed the statement (Robert and Jeremy, pp. 89-99). This paper discusses whether there will be peace in Iraq or not.

Will There Be Peace in Iraq?

In rejecting the resort to war, the statement did not claim that easy solutions were available. “We know,” the signatories said, “that simply avoiding war will not solve the fundamental problems of Iraq.… Peace and justice require more than the absence of war.” The statement went on to say that “the tragedy of Iraq has been decades in the making,” and that whether or not war could be averted, “the road to genuine transformation will be slow and troubled.” The statement was clear on the international community's responsibility: “to accompany the people of Iraq, not with more bombs and missiles, but with moral, political, and material support.”

Yet, for the better part of four weeks, bombs and missiles did greet the people of Iraq. As wars go these days, this has not been a long one, though it is certainly not over. Unexploded cluster bombs and landmines still lie in wait, and they will not discriminate among their victims. The uncounted thousands of small arms that were dispersed among the population during the war will continue their deadly work among Iraqi society for many years to come. The physical rebuilding will soon begin, but the psychological and social recovery will take longer - now pursued without the benefit of significant elements and artefacts of Iraq's extraordinary heritage (Robert and Jeremy, pp. 89-99).

Political rebuilding can now also resume. The war on Iraq did not produce regime change. It produced regime demolition, and constructive, sustainable, change is not the automatic consequence. Our statement said that war can not deliver a sustainable movement towards democracy - a point echoed just recently by US Secretary of State Powell in comments about Syria. Now, as we hope that Iraq is truly moving into a post-war era, we see that the requirements for sustainable change are much the same as they were before the war.

The now deposed regime in Iraq presents enormous challenges to the international community. Not only in Iraq, but wherever people suffer extraordinary human rights abuses, the world faces the question of how to meet its responsibility to come to the aid and protection of the vulnerable. And not only in Iraq, but wherever States violate their commitments and international covenants against the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction, we face the question of how the world can effectively assure compliance with treaty obligations and global norms and standards - and through such compliance protect the vulnerable from the threat of nuclear, chemical, or biological attacks (Andrew, pp. 111-119).

Now that the CNN phase of this war has run ...