Hope Flowers Amid Iraq's Chaos

It was a grueling 11-hour drive to Baghdad from the Kurdish region of Iraq (news - web sites). The aspiring graduate student braved checkpoints, risky roads, and other hurdles for a 15-minute interview for a chance at a Fulbright fellowship that would enable him to study American literature. When the student first sought to go to college, Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime had summarily rejected him because he was a Kurd. He was able to pursue his studies only after his home region won some autonomy. Neither insurgents nor bandits nor the fear of retribution could stop him from applying to go abroad to study the books he loves.

"It was his first, best chance, and maybe his last, best chance," says A. Heather Coyne, who runs several programs in Baghdad's Green Zone for the U.S. Institute of Peace.

This kind of tale offers a counterpoint to the stories of suicide bombings and mortar fire that paint the more common portrait of Iraq today. It shows that despite the dangers, high unemployment, and lack of electricity and potable water, ever-resilient Iraqis remain convinced that things will get better.

POSITIVE SIGNS. "'How can I not be hopeful? Things are really, really bad,'" one Iraqi told Daniel P. Serwer, a stabilization expert at the institute, a federally funded think tank. Before Christmas, the institute invited reporters to meet with some of its experts who have recently spent time in Iraq. The story of the student was just one of several told on that day.

Serwer acknowledges that security has deteriorated since he first started traveling to Iraq to monitor the institute's post-invasion programs, which range from helping draft a constitution to conflict-management training. Moreover, the outcome of the U.S. intervention remains in doubt.

Still, positive signs flash below the press's radar screen, partly because reporters not embedded with the military are largely confined to a shrinking number of safe areas. "This is the most hopeful period they've had in their history," Coyne says of the Iraqis. "They don't want to blow it."

-- Potential Iraqi leaders continue to apply for the institute's seminars. More than 90% of those who sign up actually attend, even though participation in the program could mark them for death as collaborators.

-- When the institute suggests to Iraqis that Americans could help with such things as ethnic outreach for drafting the constitution or an interfaith dialogue, Iraqis often say they already are performing such tasks.

-- Students applying for Fulbrights no longer confine themselves to subjects that were safe under Saddam, such as medicine and science. "Among the youth, both Kurds and Arabs, there is enthusiasm for politics," notes Phebe Marr, an Iraq scholar and a senior fellow at the institute.

-- Relations among Kurds, Sunnis, and Shia are as bad as they have been in decades, Marr concedes. Yet residents in Kirkuk, which the Kurds lust after, are determined to avoid sectarian violence. They want a peaceful resolution concerning control of the city. And both the Kurds and Shia have resisted retaliating against the numerous horrific provocations from the Sunnis. Many international observers thought such a level of good faith and determination to avoid civil war was impossible.

-- Groups are coalescing on the basis of interests, not ethnic background. Women's groups often look to link forces with other women's groups, for example, and whether a group is Kurdish, Sunni, or Shia doesn't even come up, Coyne says. Issues of ethnicity tend to arise over specific matters, Serwer notes. Sunnis oppose complete removal of Baathists from government because the largely Sunni Baathists have the experience to run the country. But the Shia want the Baathists out because they ran roughshod over the Shia when the Baathists were in power.

EVERYDAY CHOICES. It's far too early to know what the net effect of all this will be. It's often said that the tactics employed by U.S. forces may be producing terrorists faster than they can be captured or killed. Coyne turns that around: She argues that so many Iraqis want to make their country better, the insurgents can't possible kill them all.

Will Iraqis conclude at some point that going to college or voting isn't worth putting their lives at risk? Maybe. But that's not the case now. Prominent Iraqis are putting their names on political slates, and everyday citizens are registering to vote. If there's reason for optimism, it's because of the Iraqis' indomitable spirit. That, in the end, could determine the success or failure of U.S. policy in Iraq.

I was very pleased to read this good news article on Yahoo. The Iraqi people have hope, they're volunteering for government training, despite death threats, and they're forming political alliances across sectarian boundaries.

And it's all Bush's fault.

As time goes on, things will get better. The elections will lend legitimacy to the Iraqi government. We will continue to train their police and provide a hammer behind them. Other nations will begin to side with the side that's winning and will rule Iraq in the future. That is, they will see that the goodwill of the free Iraqi people matters and that the self-interest of their own nations is to side with the Iraqi people for a change and not Saddam and his die hard supporters. The Sunnis will see that they too benefit from living in a country where the rule of law is as valuable to them as it is to all the others who long for it. We're on the right side of history. Bush will be vindicated because of his American trait that others in the world find so inexplicable. That trait is that he says what he means and he keeps his word.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.