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War Every Day (eIraq Blog)
Framing Iraq's politics, and partition by other names

Noah Baker Merrill, Electronic Iraq

Mar 10, 2008

One of the most destructive qualities of how events in Iraq are framed in the English-language media is the oversimplification of Iraq's political actors into three groups: Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. A recent article by Reidar Visser in Middle East Report is a much-needed reminder - through the lens of the debate over the proposed Shiite "super region" - that without understanding the true dynamics and complexities of Iraq's politics, there is little hope of understanding paths toward a better future for Iraq's people.

From the article:

The international media, for its part, simply refuses to recognize the existence of the second party in the ongoing two-way struggle. Instead the media read every single move on the Iraqi political scene as part of a "battle" between Iraq's "main contending factions, the Shiites, the Sunnis and the Kurds" -- as seen, for example, in coverage of the law on the powers of governorates, largely presented to American readers as a "Shiite objective" in a grand compromise where the Kurds got "their" budget and the Sunni Arabs "their" amnesty law. The deep intra-Shi'i divisions on the governorates law and the Sadrist demands for a strong amnesty law were conveniently ignored; only the ethno-federalist players were even acknowledged.

Read the full article on the MERIP site.

Reidar Visser's own site, www.historiae.org, offers in-depth and insightful analysis of political movements in Iraq, particularly in the areas between Baghdad and Basra.

His most recent article does much to clarify not only the conflicts and maneuverings within the Iraqi political scene related to the potential governance structure of Iraq (and indeed its continued existence as a unitary state), but also to highlight ways in which US policymakers have embraced some agendas to the detriment of others. Visser's work is essential reading for anyone with an interest in advocacy for constructive changes to US policy related to Iraq.


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