How religion could help save Iraq

Baghdad

Not so many months ago we all heard a lot about Iraq. The terror and destruction here made the headlines. But then our troops came home and things seemed to be getting better. News of Iraq moved to the centre pages, then practically disappeared altogether.

A few weeks ago, things seemed to change again when — to the despair of all those who hoped Iraq was on the road to recovery — there was another spasm of violence. More bombs, more fatalities. It was widely attributed to the diminishing number and reduced role of US troops, but was it simply that? My suspicion is that religion is at the root of these recent problems, and that it’s only religion that can really cure them.

I’m not underestimating the significance of the presence of the Coalition military here. But this land, between the two great rivers of the Tigris and the Euphrates, is not like Western society, where there is an automatic separation between religion and state.