Bad news taints hopes for peace

Earlier this month, I was so happy to learn of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report on Iran’s nuclear program and ambitions. I thought the time had come for open conversation between the US and Iran. I thought that through direct dialog between these two powerful countries, tensions could be calmed in the Middle East and even in Pakistan. This week, I read that the British and other European counties are starting to withdraw from Iraq. That was another piece of good news. I started to count the days until US troops could come home and leave Iraq for Iraqis.

But two pieces of bad news have dampened my spirits for the coming new year. Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani indicated yesterday that he would not honor the 1975 Algiers Accord agreement between the Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein, which established the border between Iraq and Iran. After the Islamic Revolution when Saddam felt that Iran was unstable, he denounced the agreement as a prelude to beginning the Iran-Iraq war which lasted for eight miserable years. Talabani’s announcement yesterday was bad news for some of us who remember 1980 and Iran’s invasion by Saddam. We hope the same thing won’t happen again.

Some questions and points we must think about:
Why make this divisive statement?
Why now - in this time when Arabs and Israel are reaching toward peace?
Is there any connection between the peace process and the relationship between these two old neighbors?

More bad news came this morning about the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She was killed in a suicide bombing attack. I have had so much respect for her and her policies in Pakistan. I am incredibly saddened to hear of her death.

Who did this to Pakistan and why?
Who doesn’t want a democratic Pakistan?
What was the relationship between Mrs. Bhutto and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf?
What country and what idea supported each of these two actors in the Pakistani drama?

I am so sad and sorry to get such bad news during the holidays.
I wish a good and happy new year for all of us, in peace and light.