We all see the world through colored glasses, but this news story is particularly slanted, in my opinion. Clerics’ authority growing? No, it’s been in place for at least 13 centuries. The difference is now it’s possible to report on the situation in Iraq without a government minder.
The dominance of the political scene by clerics on both sides of the Shiite-Sunni divide marks a dramatic reversal of 85 years of secular rule in Iraq.
“The clerics are the kingmakers, the peacemakers and the war makers,” said Ismael Zayer, editor in chief of Sabah Jadeed, a moderate daily newspaper. “People are marching by order of clerics and stopping by order of clerics.”
Iraq’s political leaders and U.S.-led forces can shut down the country for a time and reduce the violence by flooding the streets with checkpoints and soldiers. But few doubt who really holds the cards.
Saddam had to deal with deeply entrenched religion too. All the time. The difference between then and now is that the government is much less likely to murder a cleric it disagrees with. Iraq has a long way to go but let’s not pretend the influence of clerics is some new thing. What’s different is that clerics, along with other Iraqis are now allowed to utter their opionions in public. Iraq has TV stations and radio stations that are free to run whatever programming they want to run. That’s different too.
If anything, clerics are going to find their authority diminished over the next few generations, assuming Iraq stays the course and becomes a nation blessed with more free thinkers than it has today. Remember the Dark Ages? People get tired of that sort of existence. Iraq is no exception. Clerics as moral leaders – good if the morals are sound ones. Clerics as politicians and warlords – bad.
It is going to be a generational change. Young Iraqis will grow up exposed to more ideas than their forebears and it will change Iraq for the better. How about a news story covering that?