Iraqis cautiously hopeful for better future

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-20 16:18

BAGHDAD -- At sunset of a normal day, the al- Rabie commercial street that bisects the Jami'a Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad, is crowded with people.

It has been six years since the U.S. troops led a coalition and invaded Iraq to topple its dictator, Saddam Hussein, and promised freedom and democracy for Iraqis.

Nowadays, the al-Rabie Street is always thronged with people as improvement in security encourages families and youngsters to appear in the street that was once seen as one of the hottest battlegrounds during the years of insurgency and sectarian strife.

Many people were jostling on the sidewalk; families, groups of teenage girls and youngsters spend good hours wandering in front of shops and stalls; some were looking for something to buy and most were enjoying doing window shopping.

However, by the years of bloodbaths after the invasion in March 2003, traumatized Iraqis are now looking cautiously at the light at the end of the tunnel.

At an Ice-cream shop in the street, a group of teenage girls were sitting on a table giggling and gossiping. One of them, Maha Jaber, said, "at least now it is safe enough for me to go out and meet my friends and get some ice-cream, but I don't think this is the end of violence because I am not sure about the future."

"Where were we? And where we are now?" said another girl with fashionable clothing. "I may say that level of chaos and violence nowadays in Iraq would be found alarming for other countries, but for us it is an opportunity to live normal life."

Despite optimism in the air by improvement of security and political process, Iraqis are feeling that their war-weary country is still on a knife-edge.

"I agree that people are very happy because they finally get peace again, but for me I am very cautious because I am afraid that what's in our hands is only a mirage," said Abu Taha, one of four old men sitting around a table at a cafe in the street socializing and smoking water pipes, or Shisha as Baghdadis name it.

"Security is no longer the main issue for Iraqis. There are jobs, rising prices and opaque of our country's future," said Abu Taha after he gulped down last sip of his cup of tea.

More than a year and a half of continuing relative lull of security gave Iraqis self-assurance that security improvement can be true, with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki emerged as the one who is responsible for the security and political successes which showed Iraq as no longer threatened by sectarian and racial divisions.

Maliki is seen as a powerful leader who can keep Iraq intact, therefore, he emerged winner number one in Iraq's January local elections.

He also has stepped up his calls for national reconciliation among Iraqi factions, including forgiveness for Saddam Hussein's Baath party members.

The emergence of Maliki raised concerns among leaders of minority Kurds who have enjoyed relative autonomy in northern Iraq. They are warning about risks of having strong leader in Baghdad.

Analysts see that major threat to Iraq is no longer security situation; it is the growing tension between Maliki and the Kurds, who have their announced demands on oil resources and disputed border areas, and again between Maliki and some Shiites who demand loose federal region in central and southern Iraq similar to the semi-autonomous Kurdish one in northern Iraq.

"To my understanding, Maliki is not supporting loose federal regions in the mid or south of the country and he is in favor of strong central government with expanded powers to the regions and provinces," said Abu Muhannad, another old man on the table while he was inhaling deeply from the mouthpiece of the Shisha and exhaling a jet of white smoke.

However, Abu Muhannad was worried that Maliki may face a great deal of resistance from some Shiite religious parties and Kurds, those who emerged as new leaders of Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion.

"One of the good signs is that after six years some people start to get rid of sectarian criteria when they try to decide about Iraq. That's why I know many people voted for Maliki in the latest provincial election," he said referring to the people in his Sunni neighborhood who voted for Maliki, a Shiite.

Muhsin Sa'id, a quiet old man in the group, muttered that, "it seems easy for normal people to reconcile unlike their leaders."

"They are the ones who need reconcile and work together. There is no harmony among Iraqi leaders," Sa'id said, referring that both Sunni and Shiite parties are facing internal power struggles, that are likely to increase ahead of national elections at the end of this year.