Following what many world leaders, media outlets and political analysts are calling a surprisingly successful Election Day in Iraq on Sunday, members of the Muslim and Arab communities at UB expressed optimistic caution over the future of the U.S.-occupied country.
Many said they were surprised at the lack of violence on Election Day despite the rising number of attacks leading up to it.
"As someone who was always against the war, I was pleasantly surprised," said Amil Sarfaz, president of Muslim SA. "Does it justify the war? That's another question."
That seemed to be the position of many students campus-wide: happy the election went so well, and skeptical of the other complicated issues surrounding the vote.
"I just wonder who's going to win, and if it's someone America doesn't like, what happens then?" said SA Assembly Chair Hassan Shibly.
The answer to that question, Shibly said, will determine whether the Iraqi people truly govern themselves or whether a U.S. puppet government is established. And the question of exactly how much influence America will have in Iraq after withdrawing is another question Shibly said now needs to be considered.
On the subject of American influence, Sarfaz and others pointed to America's long and continuing history of supporting dictatorships as reason to be wary because it is impossible to tell who the Bush administration will consider a friend in Iraq.
But until the day the United States pulls out of Iraq, the buzz for a while will be about the high turnout and high spirits in Sunday's election.
"I am really happy it turned out that way," Shibly said. "I have faith in the Iraqi people."
For Issa Roustum, an instructor of Arabic in UB's linguistics department, the main hope above all else is that something good will come out of the election for Iraq, the Iraqi people, and the entire Middle East.
"What has happened in Iraq is historic because in the Middle East and the Arab world in general, we're not used to having democratic elections," Roustum said.
Hamdy Habib, a senior math major, said his parents had been witness to so-called attempts at democracy in Egypt, and although there's no telling how the Iraqi election will play out in the long run, it's more than most countries in the Middle East are doing.
"At least they're trying to do something," Habib said.
Habib added he thinks the media takes positive news from Iraq and "shoves it in our face" to make Americans seem like the good guys. But no matter how many feel-good stories there are, Habib said the bottom line is that the election will change little in Iraq right now.
"People vote here and nothing changes," he said.
Another subplot to the election has been the majority Shiite population voting in large numbers while the minority Sunnis were largely repressed from voting in certain areas of the country.
Mohsin Javid, a junior international business major from Kashmir, said he believes the media is overplaying the Shiite-Sunni conflict.
"Where I come from ... once in a while there are flare-ups, but nothing serious," he said. "It's always been peaceful."
But that doesn't mean Javid is completely optimistic for the future of Iraq.
"Until the Iraqis take control of their own country, there's still going to be violence. It's not going to go down until our soldiers go," he said, adding that it needs to be a long step-by-step process. "I'm being a realist."
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
