Iraqi Fights for Democracy, Religious Tolerance, Despite Murder of Sons

c. 2005 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ Mithal al-Alusi, 52, dressed in a conservative suit and tie, sat with his hands politely folded on the table of a midtown New York office, resigned to the dangers that surround him every day. For daring to visit Israel, he incurred the wrath of Iraqi insurgents who […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

NEW YORK _ Mithal al-Alusi, 52, dressed in a conservative suit and tie, sat with his hands politely folded on the table of a midtown New York office, resigned to the dangers that surround him every day.

For daring to visit Israel, he incurred the wrath of Iraqi insurgents who killed his two sons and driver earlier this year; he barely escaped with his own life. There have been several death threats since then, and by coming to New York in May to raise funds for his fledgling political party, he was inviting more.


“It’s crazy for Christians, Jews, Muslims to be fighting,” he said. “The message of all religions is simply to be good human beings. It is only logical. If there is one God, how could it be otherwise? Why would he send his truth, his prophets, with any other message?”

The soft-spoken al-Alusi has been working for democracy in Iraq since he was a teenager. In the late 1970s, he and his young family fled Saddam Hussein’s regime to continue the campaign abroad. After the U.S. invasion in 2003, and 27 years of exile, he returned home.

The interim Iraqi administration offered him the post of director general of the Supreme National Commission for de-Baathification. It was a dream come true for the young idealist.

What freedoms and human rights could Iraqis expect? What role would Islamic law play in the formation of a constitution?

For al-Alusi, the answer was clear. “So much harm was done for so long in the name of religion,” he said. “Now we have to behave according to our conscience, according to what we know is right.”

His commitment to conscience led to a historic act, and to tragedy. In September 2004, when Israel invited al-Alusi to attend a conference on counter-terrorism, he agreed despite a 1968 law banning Iraqis from travel to “the Zionist Entity.”

No announcement of his participation was made before the conference. He approached the podium and said, “I would like to thank the United States for liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein’s terror.”


There was a moment of stunned silence. Then the audience, comprised of scholars, politicians and the Israeli military and government elite, erupted in applause. Here was an official from the new Iraq, the first to visit Israel, publicly thanking the U.S. for freeing his country.

Word of al-Alusi’s visit and his speech reached Baghdad. Even before he had exited the conference hall, insurgents were issuing death threats against his family. A few hours later, he was informed that the Iraqi government had removed him from the National Congress and urged him never to return.

Al-Alusi was not about to abandon Iraq with a chance for democracy so close at hand. He decided to return and continue his work in Iraq.

In February 2005, his sons, Eiman, 30, and Gamal, 22, were gunned down outside their father’s home. Al-Alusi did not beat his breast or call for revenge. In quiet English, he told reporters then that his sons died “no differently from other people who find their heroic deaths. I will continue to call for normalization with Israel, even if the terrorists will try and assassinate again. Peace with Israel is the only option for Iraq.”

In the interim, there have been repeated attempts on his life, including a grenade attack on his house. The threats have failed to diminish his efforts. Progress has been slow. In a country of 26 million his fledgling Iraqi National Movement has so far enlisted a membership of about 7,000 with its appeal for a liberal constitution and free economy.

Education ranks high among al-Alusi’s prescriptions for democracy in Iraqi, and he faults ignorance of the Quran’s true teachings as a major cause of terrorism.


“Generally, our society is still guided by Islamic commentaries that were written hundreds of years ago,” he said. “This is 2005, not 1005. We can’t be hostages of these books. If a terrorist says he is acting according to Quran, should we believe him?”

The majority of suicide attacks are believed to have been by Sunni extremists, yet al-Alusi says that arbitrarily involving more Sunnis in the new government is the wrong way to move Iraq closer to peace.

“The right way is to not talk in terms of Sunnis or Shia, but liberals, secularists, democrats and human beings. How can you drive a democracy if you think in terms of giving rights to some people because they are Sunnis or Shia?”

Courts of law do not distinguish between Sunni law and Shiite law, he argues, and neither does the Quran.

“All scriptures agree about this. The Torah teaches that if you kill one life, it is like you kill the whole world,” he said. “We say the same thing in the Quran. How can they kill people in the name of God and Islam?”

In May, The American Jewish Committee gave its Moral Courage Award to al-Alusi.

“A vast literature has been written about those who stand against strong currents within their societies,” said David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee. “Rare indeed are men and women willing to speak out when the cost is fatal.”


Michael Rubin, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former political adviser to the Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority, notes that al-Alusi’s individualism is both his greatest asset and his Achilles heel. “He makes a difference,” Rubin said, “because the only way to break the huge taboo against relations with Israel is by putting your life on the line. But that individualism can also compromise the tactics of larger movements such as the effort to build a Shia coalition. His message is right on. Lack of support from like-minded politicians is more because of his timing.”

Despite his terrible losses, al-Alusi says his visit to Israel was the right thing to do. “Many people told me in Baghdad, `You have done a very good step, but this is not the right time.”’

He shook his head.

“You can always have life the easy way, if you want. I could stay here (in New York) and have fun like other people. And maybe I’d live longer. But what is the quality of that life and would I be happy with it? The price for me may have been too high. I know that. And maybe the price will go up more in the future, although I can’t think of a higher price than losing your only two sons. But I don’t have other choices. We have to fight against terrorism, against extremism.”

MO/RB END RNS

(Joshua Greene teaches in the religion department at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., and sits on the executive council of the Long Island chapter of the American Jewish Committee. His forthcoming book, “Here Comes the Sun, the Spiritual Journey of George Harrison,” will be published in January.)

Editors: To obtain a photo of Mithal al-Alusi, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug. If searching by subject, designate “exact phrase” for best results.

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