Middle East News
Sunni party moves closer to deal with Iraqi government
Aug 26, 2007, 22:44 GMT
Baghdad - After three weeks of negotiations in Baghdad, the Shiite and Kurdish government parties agreed with the Sunnis on Sunday on a common strategy for further cooperation in the government.
The party leaders presented the agreement as a huge breakthrough 'that opens the way for the Sunnnis to return to the government.'
The Sunnis, who represent a minority population that lost its upper hand with the fall of Saddam Hussein, have charged that the government led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, has only clamped down on Sunni extremists while turning a blind eye to the violence carried out by Shiite militia.
The deal did not find support from followers of the militant Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr, who has his own militia, or the secular party of former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqi National List (INL) withdrew from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government on Friday.
That means the coalition now dominated by two Shiite and two Kurdish parties has added the strongest Sunni fraction in parliament, the Iraq Consensus Front (ICF), but not other disaffected groups.
It was not clear when the ICF cabinet members were to resume their duties, according to the news agency Aswat al-Irak.
Cornerstones of the agreement, according to the agency, include a larger participation by smaller parliamentary factions in decision- making, the release of innocent imprisoned Iraqis as well as the pursuit of all terrorists of all colours, 'without discrimination.'
Al-Maliki's government is under increasing pressure from Washington to bring together Iraq's warring factions, and several opposition Democratic Party politicians as well as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner have called for him to be replaced.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
'Golly gee, Gertrude. Looks like they might be wrong again!'
OOOOh It is all Dooooomed I tells ya. The surge 'failed', our armed forces are 'terrorists' we should have 'redeployed' to Okinawa, fire doesn't melt steel, we should invade Pakistan and appease Iran, you just disagree because you are uneducated, Kofi said it was illegal, Bush lied, people died, If the gloves don't fit you must acquit, multinational cooperation's, Haliburton voting machines, Veto proof majority' for the 12% approval, Attica, Attica, Attica....
Be still my heart!
It's not that difficult to get the Shia and Kurds to agree, because each controls oil revenue, and both suffered at the hand of Saddam.
The problem is the extremists, on both the Sunni and Shia sides. The Shia militia are battling over Basra, and al-Maliki has no influence with the Shia militias involved. 17 ministers do not even bother to show up for meetings. Allawi is off the reservation, using GOP lobbyists to help run for office. Give Chalabi a chance, and he'll try to get back in as well.
There's a fundamental trust issue involved, since the Shia have a natural majority, and the Sunni are concerned about their minority position in a combined government, being beholden to everyone else for shared oil proceeds.
Beyond this agreement (which is certainly good news, compared to what preceded it), the government has to learn to govern - that means infrastructure, safety for the civilian population, and resettling of over 4 million refugees, including 2 million in Jordan.
Dealing with al Qaeda should then become straightforward, as we're paying off the Sunni and providing them weapons, and both the Shia and Kurds would make relatively quick work of al Qaeda through a REAL police presence.
One of the very large problems is the huge amount of weapons available, and making the Shia militias disarm, in favor of a centralized force. Now that we've armed the Sunni, we also would have to get them to disarm - good luck with that one.
These are all of the logistical problems that cannot be tackled until all parties sign off on something that they can live with; and it will take YEARS to build that kind of government and infrastructure. Iran already impacts the process, and while the Iraqis would rather NOT be dependent on Iran, it may be too late to avoid that.
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NoharnessAug 26th, 2007 - 23:22:09
Well, damn! All day today the newsies have been crying about how the Iraqi government would never get its act together. Golly gee, Gertrude. Looks like they might be wrong again!
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