WASHINGTON, 18 March 2004 — Iraq’s crash course in nation-building got under way on March 8. The first attempt to launch its national development program, on March 5 was aborted when five members who were scheduled to ratify the interim constitution did not show up. Nothing changed but three days later they did show up for the constitution’s provisional signing.

The fact that the entire 25-member Iraqi Governing Council did show up the second time was a hopeful beginning.

Fortunately some wise Iraqis have discovered that the best thing that Iraq can do is continue moving on to independence. In fact, the Iraqis have no choice in the matter since the US is leaving, ready or not.

What is bothering Shiite Iraqis, who make up 60 percent of the population, is that they have a majority and they’d like to be able to go their own way. Another 20 percent of the Iraqis are Sunni Arabs who used to be in control of the government. Just under 20 percent are Sunni Kurds, and the remainder consists of Christian and non-Christian sects in very small numbers. The Iraqi constitution states that Islam is the religion of the country, but other denominations have equal rights of citizenship.

Iraq’s new document is known as Iraq’s Transitional Administrative Law. It calls for elections to be held by the end of 2005 to select a 275-member transitional assembly. That group is to serve as a legislature, draft a constitution and choose a president and two deputy presidents. These three executives will select a prime minister and a Cabinet to run the government. This transitional government is to remain in power until a permanent constitution is approved in a national referendum and new elections are held.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran writing in The Washington Post, quoted Muhammed Bahr ‘loum, a Shiite cleric who holds the 25-member council’s rotating presidency, calling it a “decisive moment in the history of Iraq.”

President Bush also hailed the statement, calling it “an historic milestone in the Iraqi people’s long journey from tyranny and violence to liberty and peace.”

This journey was well under way several decades ago. Before Saddam Hussein’s rise to power in Iraq in the ‘70s, thousands of Iraqi students went to the United States and to other countries such as Britain, France and Germany to pursue their education. These students and professionals went back to Iraq and established exemplary schools of education, hospitals, built bridges and dams. In recent years, however, there has been little scholarly interchange between Iraq and the West.

In terms of restoring scholarly ties between countries, which were interrupted by Saddam Hussein’s rule, there are many current examples to explore. When Saudi Arabia suddenly decided to move rapidly into a major place in the world it allowed its best students to go anywhere they wanted and study any courses they could master, as long as their courses were of some use to their nation.

The Saudis did exactly that and thousands of them attained graduate degrees. When they came back they were truly Saudi Arabia’s greatest assets and many became leaders and are still leading today. There are far more Saudis, in proportion, with graduate degrees than there are Americans with such degrees in the United States. And it shows.

The same can be true in Iraq again. Most Iraqis believe that the United States has the best universities, based on the spirit of open-mindedness and the willingness to change and improve. Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and other countries should be moved into the mix. It will pay off almost immediately by helping Iraqis regain their position in the wide world where they belong. The resources to pay for advanced educational programs will soon be there again and should not be wasted any longer than necessary.

Meanwhile Iraq is bogged down with the problem of how to deal with ethnic divisions. The Sunnis are deeply concerned that they and the Kurds will be left out if the Shiite majority assumed total control. The last thing that the two populations need is estrangement from the mainstream. Thus Iraq is seeking to give minority rights both to Kurds and Sunnis. Such minority protections are wise, and should be encouraged, as the US has done. Even in the 25 members of the Iraqi Governing Council there is an Assyrian, one of Iraq’s tiny Christian minorities, and others should be included as the numbers are increased.

While the Shiites are still concerned that they are going to lose a working majority, the Kurds and Sunnis are equally concerned that there will be no minority rights at all if they are not careful. Dealing with these problems is crucially important but there is little time to go forward what with the American timetable.

On June 30 the Iraqis are largely on their own. At the end of the next six months, or perhaps a little bit longer, the United States is truly out of the country. There will be no one to blame if Iraq falls apart or falls into another crippling dictatorship, or worse, two or three dictatorships. There are a lot of people, including Israelis, who are waiting for this to happen. There are people in the United States who would like to see this take place too, specifically the neoconservatives whose only intention is to protect Israel and keep the United States from pursuing its own best interests.

The odds of keeping these multiple disasters at bay seem daunting. On the other hand, perhaps no country in the world is better equipped to go forward on its own steam by making wise choices by enlightened leaders. It will take compromises and a spirit of generosity to hold this country together in the coming years. But it is worth doing for the Iraqis themselves and for the world which needs Iraq’s plentiful energy for many years to come.

— Richard H. Curtiss is the executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs magazine.