I sammendraget af en rapport om situationen i Basra skriver den anerkendte tænketank følgende:
Basra is a case study of Iraq’s multiple and multiplying forms of violence. These often have little to do with sectarianism or anti-occupation resistance. Instead, they involve the systematic misuse of official institutions, political assassinations, tribal vendettas, neighbourhood vigilantism and enforcement of social mores, together with the rise of criminal mafias that increasingly intermingle with political actors. Should other causes of strife – sectarian violence and the fight against coalition forces – recede, the concern must still be that Basra’s fate will be replicated throughout the country on a larger, more chaotic and more dangerous scale. The lessons are clear. Iraq’s violence is multifaceted, and sectarianism is only one of its sources. It follows that the country’s division along supposedly inherent and homogenous confessional and ethnic lines is not an answer. It follows, too, that rebuilding the state, tackling militias and imposing the rule of law cannot be done without confronting the parties that currently dominate the political process and forging a new and far more inclusive political compact.
Iraq is in the midst of a civil war. But before and beyond that, Iraq has become a failed state – a country whose institutions and, with them, any semblance of national cohesion, have been obliterated. That is what has made the violence – all the violence: sectarian, anti-coalition, political, criminal and otherwise – both possible and, for many, necessary. Resolving the confrontation between Sunni Arabs, Shiites and Kurds is one priority. But rebuilding a functioning and legitimate state is another – no less urgent, no less important and no less daunting.
Det er ikke bare modstand mod besættelsen, ikke bare sekteriske og etniske stridigheder, ikke bare stamme- og famileopgør, ikke bare almindelig lovløshed - men en dødsensfarlig blanding af alle disse ting, skabt af fraværet af en folkeligt anerkendt, legitim og effektiv stats- og samfundstruktur - der er på spil i Irak. Foghs fladpandede ‘religiøse’ forklaring på Iraksituationens dødspiral er særlig ondartet og uforskammet.
At de uansvarlige eventyrpolitikere i Washington bærer hovedansvaret for miseren er klart. Men de er overhovedet ikke i stand til at løse den. Selvom fremmede magter på godt og ondt har mere end et ord at sige, må irakernes frigørelse være irakernes eget værk.
Derfor er DR’s historie om at repræsentanter for forskellige væbnede grupper i Irak mødes og blandt andet henter inspiration fra afslutningen af de voldelige konflikter i Sydafrika og Nordirland da et lys i mørket.