President George Bush got all the press by going to Iraq, so few heard that Iraq may be taking a page from Northern Ireland in an effort to reconcile two very widely disparate religious groups.
One could argue that Catholics and Free Presbyterians are both Christian, just as Sunnis and Shiites are both Islamic. Hence, if one situation could be resolved through peaceful means, then the Muslims could be mentored and shown the way to get along, to agree to disagree.
Meeting in Finland, representatives from both sides of the conflict laid out a roadmap that followed the course of Northern Ireland's path. Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness was there, along with Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP. They joined politicians from South Africa, land of apartheid, to talk to men from both the Shia and Sunni sects. In the end, the meeting produced a twelve step program to achieve peace in Iraq.
The point of the meeting was to further political gains, to give the Iraqi representatives some goals that would allow the formation of a middle ground where violence could be avoided and outstanding issues resolved. How do you learn how to tolerate a viewpoint that promotes your demise? It's been done in the north of Ireland, and those who did it shared their hard learned lessons with Iraq, where killing as a way to show one's strong religious faith has been practiced for centuries.
Will the Shia and the Sunni find the courage to disarm, as the IRA did to further the political process? Will the many militias agree to a cease fire so that non-violence can be given a chance? Sixteen Iraqis have left Finland with a desire to spread this concept across a war-torn land. Their ability to influence their colleagues could tip the balance and send the country down the road to peaceful coexistence.
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