Gulf News: Will military intervention resolve the issue?
The world is going as planned; there is no fate or unexpected ends especially in the Middle East. It’s all acting and we would be so naïve if we believe that we control our own lives. We can only plan 6 hours ahead and that’s what ME is all about at the moment.
From Mr Mohammad Ahmad Al Abbadi
Dubai
Indeed, Iraq had very unadjusted history in the past but further more we can observe that US used the term sectarian war for their personal concerns in Iraq. US used 2 major sects of Muslims in the name of democracy. However, right now Iraq is facing much bigger issues with so called religious outfits. The reason is that some of our Brothers like to live as if 1400 years before Muslims were present. They want to apply their ideologies and thoughts forcefully. We have to come to peace and I salute the UAE internal and foreign policies towards other countries and states.
From Mr Ghulam Nabi Karimi
UAE
It is not sectarian issue, rather Islam vs shiaism. Military intervention by who? US and NATO forces? They couldn’t finish Isil since 2004, how will they defeat them now? Especially now that they have got sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles and loads of ammunitions from supporting army and militias given by the US as an “aid” to Iraq.
From Mr Noumaan Nasir
Dubai
The news indicated Yemeni forces have teamed up with Isis. Is it penniless to start wondering if there will be troubles for Saudi Arabia?
From Ms BethAnn White
Indiana, United States
Military intervention has never resolved any problems. It is political and military strategy that can deliver goods.
From Mr Ali Wahab
Dubai
Gulf News: Will uniting with Kurdistan stave off threats?
Lack of choices requires that attainable solutions could be found breaking up some old analytical schemes. Simultaneously, the comprehension of the realities on the grounds requires to be careful about the proposing of “radical solutions” such as a possible Iraq’s portion into three or more geographical-political entities. In 2003, Bush trumpeted that after the dictatorship’s defeat Iraq could have “set an example to all the M.E. of a vital, peaceful and self-governing nation”. In my opinion, the current situation is the product of US foreign policy’s erratic path in M.E. (plus dirty war in 2003), the miscalculations of “local actors” (GCC, Turkey, Iran), the rumours within the Muslim World. Can (Iraq) Kurdistan play an important role in the effort to protect the country’s territorial integrity? Maybe, it will depend on the strength of internal balance of powers between Kurdistan’s Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. If they will clash, Iraq’s future will become exceedingly insecure.
From Ms Eleonora Salvatore
Pompey, Italy
Kurds find this as an opportunity to seek independence by uniting with Isil to achieve their objectives which are short-term in nature but will cause destruction in the long run. I find media sympathy for Isil in the last two weeks and believe me, I, too, find it disturbing.
From Mr Ali Wahab
Dubai
It was the target divide and manage.
From Ms Sedef Alioğlu
UAE
Gulf News: Is lack of choices (Al Maliki or Isil) driving Iraq to a disaster?
Isil should be thrown out of the Middle East...
From Mr Er Riaz Mir
UAE
Why don’t Muslim countries stop this nightmare that is happening in various Muslim countries?
From Ms Asma Malik
Chakwal, Pakistan
There is something known as “diplomacy” and the Muslim League don’t differentiate between the Shia or Sunni community. And what is happening in Iraq is a Civil War of attaining power! I don’t think intervention of any other country is needed in terms of force.
From Mr Ahmed Osama Siddiqui
Ras Al Khaimah
Since Al Maliki took over, the country has been going downhill. There has been a raise in all crimes, especially between Muslims of different sectors such as sunni versus shia and these crimes never even existed before!
From Ms Sabeha K. Ibrahim
Israel and the US are war criminals and they are responsible for driving Iraq to a disaster.
From Inayat Ullah Kuchay
Dubai
It’s not a matter of choices, rather simplification of the issue as a sectarian matter. Isil is a group of mercenaries living in utopia that they can bring the Islamic system of government in the region. Al Maliki may not have achieved much as ruler, but it is because we have overlooked Iraq and focused too much on Syria and Iran over the last two to three years. Disaster beckons because of our inaction than anything else.
From Mr Ali Wahab
Dubai
It isn’t the matter of the choices that people have in Iraq but about lack of unity. People should understand that before anything else they are Muslims, undivided by cast, sects or creed. Unless we change our mentality and come together as Muslims, there will be disasters in the Muslim world and not just Iraq.
From Ms Fatima Suhail
Dubai
Be Heards:
It is true that at this point Iraq has almost no choice at all as far as its political future is concerned. However, it seems to be a pattern in history where the nation has rarely been in control of its own political fate. Saddam Hussain and then the latter occupation by US and the Allied Forces are a testament to the domination of Iraqi people. As it is, Iraq was broken under Hussain’s regime and the later military intervention by US caused more damage than it ever intended to revert. The people of Iraq could hardly side with the self proclaimed saviours and today they can hardly side with ISIL. The government meanwhile is another tale of corruption and incompetence. Lack of tolerance and unity between Muslims in Iraq has caused much trouble in the past and continues to do so in the present. I believe that Iraq right now can do better with support and unison, yet the long-term impacts of such unison have to be well considered before hand. In any case, uniting with Kurdistan will give Iraq a better opportunity as a nation. Military intervention in any case should be the last resort to peace, and if history has taught us something it is that such interventions rarely end in peace. Nevertheless, the state in Iraq requires an action by force to remove threats such as Isil which exist because of massive military power, are well equipped with not only weapons but also a media presence. Hence, only a military intervention can effectively remove them as of now. However, who this intervention is from is a different debate in itself as the strength of the Iraqi force is debateable and Western intervention in the region is not a viable option in the long term. In the end, the change has to come from within. The Isil gain strength through propaganda and instigation.
From Ms Mariam Khawar
Pakistani social science student based in Sharjah
Isil was and will never be the choice of an Iraqi citizen; rather they imposed themselves through violent means as a retaliation to some unacceptable government acts. There are various reasons are to be considered in order to stop Iraq from becoming a disaster, such as imposing foreign military intervention, combat aid and foreign agenda. Uniting with Kurdistan will stave off threats as the kurds possess the only intact armed forces capable of providing resistance to Isil in northern Iraq. However, they are girding their forces because of a bitter struggle with Baghdad over revenue-sharing and oil exports. The Iraqi Kurds are generous and brave: they hate the extremism of radical jihadist groups and will not tolerate a major jihadist center in Mosul, located just an hour’s drive east of the shining new skyscrapers of Erbil, the Kurdish capital. Indeed social media reporting of Kurdish martyrs in the fight against Isil are proliferating. They are already fighting Isil at half a dozen points from the Syrian border to Iran, with Baghdad’s air forces in support in some areas. Military intervention will not resolve the issue due to political root problems as it was the US invasion and occupation that unleashed the problem of Sunni and Shiite militancy in Iraq.Furthermore, the Iraq war exposed the limitations of translating hard military power to political influence on the ground. Unfortunately, that same thinking persists elsewhere. A military response to a political problem tends to conflate the problem, while exponentially compounding its complexity. The solution would be a major political reform that works against a tyranny of the Shiite majority. It also needs a system that encourages political alliances across religious and ethnic divisions. Therefore, military intervention alone cannot resolve the issue.
From Mr Ahmad Nawaz
Pakistani management consultant based in Al Ain
