'Historic' meeting stresses reconciliation between Sunni and Shia in Rashidiyah

Photo By Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett | Col. Jon Lehr, commander, 4th Stryker Brigade Team, 2nd Infantry Division, listens as an Iraqi talks during a reconciliation meeting, Oct. 22, in Baghdad.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

11.02.2007

Story by Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett 

4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division

BAGHDAD, Iraq – In its broadest sense, the word reconciliation means to bring into agreement or harmony, or to win over to friendliness. In Iraq, the word has come to symbolize the path to peace and security for the country.

On Oct. 22, a reconciliatory meeting took place in Baghdad, as a prominent Sunni sheik and Shia sheik from the city of Rashidiyah promised to set their differences aside for the good of the community.

Col. Jon Lehr, commander, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, who facilitated and helped moderate the meeting, described it as historic.

"The whole idea of reconciliation goes beyond a one dimensional Sunni-nationalist point of view," explained Lehr. "It does mean that Coalition Forces are reconciling with Sunni nationalist – who at one time were fighting Coalition Forces – but it also means reconciliation among Iraqis themselves. It's not Shia or Sunni, it's Iraqis."

Rashidiyah, located 15 miles north of Baghdad, is a city of approximately 30,000 people, both Sunni and Shia. Up until this month, there has been little cooperation between followers of the different Islamic sects.

"The Rashidiyah-area is a microcosm for all of Iraq," Lehr said to begin the meeting. "We all have a common goal, and that common goal is to defeat extremism."

The meeting was held in the offices of Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi. The vice president's advisor for human rights, Sheik Omar al-Jaburi, along with his advisor Dr. Khadir helped with moderating the meeting.

"We are here to work together now that the outside influence of al-Qaida and criminal militias is about 90 percent decreased," al-Jaburi said through a translator. "We can go back to being good neighbors and cooperating. The work conducted by Coalition Forces has proven to the Iraqi people that they are here to provide us the ability to become a first-class nation with human rights, rights of minorities and advances in technology."

"It is time to take advantage of the presence of American Forces in Iraq to help us move forward," al-Jaburi continued. "Now that there are cries in Washington for their sons to come home, we need to take advantage while they are still here to move forward in these steps."

Since this spring, the leaders of 4-2 SBCT have worked closely with Sheik Mohan Fahd, influential Rashidiyah Shia leader, and Sheik Ammer Ahmad, prominent
Rashidiyah Sunni leader, to help bring peace and security to the area.

This month marks the first time the two Iraqi leaders have worked jointly together.

"Hopefully this will be the start of a brand new Iraq based on justice, equality and fairness for all the people," Fahd said through a translator. "As it is in our hometowns, when a fire takes over a house, everybody goes to put out the fire regardless of whose house is burning, because the fire will eventually spread and hurt everybody in the village. So should we here come together, rejecting isolationism to move forward as
a community to provide justice and truth for the people."

"The work that has started in the area has progressed steadily," agreed Ahmad, a former general in Saddam Hussein's army. "The cooperation between different sides is becoming more obvious and is taking better shape on the ground. Reconciliation has taken hold in the area, and we hope in the future that it will progress quickly."

Once the promises of reconciliation were made, the two Rashidiyah sheiks, along with prominent leaders from other cities in the brigade's area of operations – including Tarmiyah, Khan Bani Sa'ad and Husseiniyah – discussed with the brigade leadership how their areas could be improved.

Lehr and the rest of the brigade leadership listened intently as many requests for help from Coalition Forces were brought forward. The requests ranged in scope from helping to rebuild the infrastructure, helping to improve agriculture production, and helping to drive out al-Qaida. One sheik promised 1,000 Concerned Local Citizens to help maintain law and order if Coalition Forces would first clear al-Qaida from the area.
In some cases, Lehr promised to help out. In others, he encouraged the Iraqi leaders to help themselves.

"For many years, Iraqis leaned on Coalition Forces to do much of the work for them," Lehr said after the meeting. "We are slowly pulling back from the notion of providing them everything. We showed them what right looks like: how you run a government, how you run a budget, how you manage essential services. Now it's a matter of coaching, teaching, mentoring . . . We can continue to solve their problems for them, but I think it's more important at this point in time that we help them figure out how to solve their own problems."

Lehr said the cooperation he saw at the meeting was just the beginning.

"I think (the meeting was) very powerful because we got several prominent Iraqis talking to each other – Shia and Sunni talking about common goals," he said. "The important thing is that we got a commitment to continue to the process. Did we solve all the area's problems? No, we didn't do that, but we started the journey."

• Date Taken: 11.02.2007
• Date Posted: 11.02.2007 06:23
• Story ID: 13562
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ