Ayad Jamal Aldin Al-Arabiya 3.1 | 3.1 اياد جمال الدين العربية

Uploaded by AyadJamalAldin on 19.11.2009

Will 2004 be a year of Iraqi reconciliation
as all the Iraqi people of diverse social and intellectual nature,
whether they are patriots or nationalists, Islamists or Christians, Arabs or Kurds or other minorities wish
would Iraq witness a fact-finding, equity and reconciliation committees, as happened in similar experiences in contemporary history
would Kurds give up federalism project and be patient as they were asked by the Governing Council yesterday
would the Turkmen withdraw their threat to declare the territory of Turkmenistan as their representative Sengul Jabrouk
the member of the Transitional Council announced in response to the Kurds' federalism
and how to deal with the Baathists in the new system
and would the Iraqis show the courage of forgiveness,
and Baathists show courage to apologize and repentance for what happened during the past three decades
where would the Shiite majority stan on all of these projects and could they pardon bygones, as their leader Abdul Karim Kasim did before
or what happened recently in Kirkuk is a prelude to what can happen in the near future
we ask all of these questions in the first episode of this year from Iraq
may this year be the year of the return of Iraqis to their Iraq to rebuilt it again
I have with me in the studio, Mr. Ayad Jamal Aldin the cleric and political thinker
and from London Haroon Mohammed the Iraqi writer and political opponent
as well as Mr. Shukri Salih Zaki, the former Minister of Economy and Finance in the Iraqi government
Welcome, your Excellency, Mr. Minister, I begin the the question directly
Do you think Iraq today is in need of national reconciliation while you moved away from Iraq for thirty-four years?
Contrary to the definition of national reconciliation is the hostility
is there animosity between the communities of the Iraqi people, of course
No there is no hostility, then we fear that some people are going to interpret the word of reconciliation that there is enmity and must be followed by reconciliation
In fact there is no enmity between the communities of the Iraqi people
not even between the various sectarian or regional parties
Since the beginning of governance in 1920, the problem was between the government and Iraqi society
So the problem was between the former regime and the Iraqi people and not between the categories of the Iraqi people?
Or in another meaning between the previous regimes, if we spoke the truth and reached deep into the subject
the regimes in general were not fair in dealing with all parts of Iraqi society in an equal and fair way
therefore some parts may feel that they were hit by injustice, and others feel there was bias against them
Do you mean the sectarian parts or some ethnic groups or from different communities?
Yes, sectarian or ethnic groups, namely, the problem is not of disagreement between the communities
but it is the dealing of regimes with the communities
Can you confirm or feel that if you leave the Iraqis today and the American occupation of Iraq is gone
is there a harmony between the various sectarian and regional groups in Iraq
or that there may be a civil war as some pessimists predict
In my opinion, after the Iraqis take these tragedies
I cannot imagine something like that will happen
there is a ceiling, it is the ceiling of the Iraqi identity that was formed a long time ago and there are disagreements as well.
Can these disagreements be transformed into a civil war?
I mean I would like to delve into this subject according to the scene in Iraq today.
According to my perception and knowledge of the future of IRaq
I cannot imagine that there will be a civil war
but there might be disagreements in points of view and this is normal in every country in the world
Turning to Mr. Ayad Jamal Aldin, the political think, welcome to you Sayyid Ayad
Do you agree with Mr. Shukri Saleh Zaki that the word of national reconciliation in Iraq
do not apply to the case of the Iraqi community because there is no enmity in the Iraqi society?
In the name of God the compassionate and the merciful...for the national reconciliation, the truth is that the concept of reconciliation
means that there must be two parties that have a dispute between them, so that the reconciliation must take place
What comes to the mind of some Arab fellows is that there are groups in Iraqi society
including Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Turkmen and others
I do not think there is a sectarian or ethnic problem in Iraq or among the Iraqi society
and there is no hatred between Shiites, Sunnis, between Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens and other components of the IRaqi people.
There is a party that imposed its power on the Iraqi people and practiced violence against most of the constituent groups of the Iraqi people
but particularly against the Shiites and the Kurds
as evidenced by the Al-Anfal, Halabcha, marshes and the mass graves operations and so on.
Our situation today is to say: my people killed my brother Humaim; if I shoot then the arrow will shoot me.
it is necessary to distinguish between the murderer and the victim, the slaughterer and the slaughtered
those who practiced murder must apologize, we as murdered, slaughtered and bellowed dignity families
and people for years, had no one to pat on our shoulder or head
Unfortunately, until now even the Arab media is not aware of the suffering of Iraqis who were abused for nothing
Sayyid Ayad, you said that you ask for an apology
or are you not the one demanding that, but you the murdered as you said and you mean Shiites who were wronged under Saddam
there are today two million Baathist Iraqis
is it sufficient for them to declare repentance or apology for what happened until you are ready to forgive them?
Repentance does note mean saying sorry
it must be translated into practical reality
today, some groups raise their voice with superfluous patriotism
Historically, those who defended home up to this moment are all the Iraqi people
there is no one who loves his country and defends his homeland more than the other
also the Iraqi achievements and Jihad in al-Ishreen revolution who witnessed all that
What is required from the Baathists
What is required is that the Baathists have to admit that they disrespected the Iraqi people
they should apologize and they must give up [participation in] the political process
because if the civilized people or politicians fail in a certain economic plan
or a plane incident occurred inadvertently or accidentally, the prime minister, or the minister concerned, resigns
leaves politics and goes to another job, you cannot be a minister yesterday and want to be a prince today
I will come back to discuss the topic of apology, repentance and giving up participation in the political process
I want to turn to London to Mr. Haroon Mohammed, the Iraqi writer and political dissident
Welcome Mr. Mohammed, in fact we have listened to Mr. Ayad and the Minister
is there a consensus that there is no enmity between Iraqis in order to say that there is a national reconciliation
but there are some pessimists who are predicting that once the Americans withdraw, there were be civil war