Leading Iraqi Sunni Leader Seeks Timeline, Rejects ‘Soft Partition’ Plan Advanced By U.S. Experts
Leading Iraqi Sunni Leader Seeks Timeline, Rejects ‘Soft Partition’ Plan Advanced By U.S. Experts
Today, Iraqi Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi, a top Sunni leader, threatened to pull out of the government and withdraw his 44-member bloc from the Iraqi parliament if long overdue constitutional changes aren’t made by May 15th.
Al-Hashimi complained about the lack of progress in Iraq’s political transition and specifically asked for guarantees that Iraq would not be split into Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish states.
This particular demand by the Sunni leader rejects ideas promoted by the likes of Council of Foreign Relations fellow Les Gelb and Brookings fellow Michael O’Hanlon, demonstrating that the so-called “soft partition” just won’t work in Iraq because it lacks support of a key group – Iraq’s Sunnis.
Instead, what is needed is a comprehensive plan for getting American troops out of Iraq’s civil war and working for a political settlement to Iraq’s conflict with intensified regional diplomacy, as detailed in the Center for American Progress’s Iraq plan, Strategic Redeployment.
UPDATE: Kevin Drum has more.
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it’s about to get even uglier
May 7th, 2007 at 7:22 pmYou mean the Iraqi’s want to run their country their own way?
May 7th, 2007 at 7:28 pm“You mean the Iraqi’s want to run their country their own way?”
It’s even worse than that. The various power blocs cannot agree on how their country should be run — a predictable (and predicted) result of this ill-advised war. It will be interesting to see if he lives up to his threat, since I doubt that the constitution will be modifed as the Sunnis wish.
May 7th, 2007 at 7:41 pmOMG . . . now even the Iraqis themselves are demanding timelines!
GDumbya doesn’t like the Democrats‘ timelines; just imagine what he’ll have to say about this revolting development.
May 7th, 2007 at 7:46 pmAs Congressman Kucinich has pointed out, U.S. troops could be effectively pulled out of Iraq [not redeployed] over a two to three month period. As he and others such as independent journalist Nir Rosen and former Gen. Odom have noted, it is the presence of the U.S. military that is inflaming both the resistance fighters and the outside forces in Iraq. The quicker the U.S troops are removed from that abattoir, the more likelihood that violence will abate in that war-torn country. Support the troops. Bring them home-now.
May 7th, 2007 at 7:49 pmWe protect the Sunni from a Shia led slaughter and the Sunni kills us. We prop up the majority Shia and the Iranian backed Shia militia kill us. The true enemies bloviating in the beltway espouse Terra and Al-Qaida while only 2% of bodies in the morgue are foreign fighters.
Two BILLION A WEEK, on borrowed money, and the maddness continues.
May 7th, 2007 at 7:49 pmI just hope and pray that the troops will come home alive. It is time for our involvement in this war to end. That is the best way, in my mind, to support the troops.
May 7th, 2007 at 7:51 pmThe timeline I’d like to see is…um….now! Just like all other wars, a ceasefire can be declared and no more aggression initiated by the invaders. Then they leave. period.
A good “plan” on ending the war in Iraq:
“We just marched in, so we can just march out”
May 7th, 2007 at 7:53 pmhttp://www.populistamerica.com/we_just_marched_in_so_we_can_just_march_out
But Bill Clinton………….
May 7th, 2007 at 7:53 pmSadly, the beltway corporate shills calling themselves representatives will never have the huevos to stop the insanity. Why can’t we strike? No work, no purchases, no taxes, no revenue for the government?
I propose we start with a two day strike. Majority of working households have two working adults. First day the oldest spouse (male or female) second day the younger.
Conservative estimate if only 10% of workforce did this it would freeze out 14 Billion tax dollars that do not go to the military industrial complex.
May 7th, 2007 at 7:54 pmJust wait untill Joe Biden hears about this! Now those dang rugs will cost $10 or Euro $13.50
May 7th, 2007 at 7:54 pmI don’t know why the Iraqis are objecting. The world powers have done so well with partitioning in the past.
May 7th, 2007 at 8:00 pm/sarcasm
Divide and pump.
Exxon one, Shell another, Unocal the third………..
May 7th, 2007 at 8:02 pmJoefriday,
That would be $10 US to 7.37 Euro’s, the dollar is losing value, and the euro gaining..
May 7th, 2007 at 8:02 pmI say split Iraq. The Kurds and Shias want their own states! The only reason the Sunnis are bitching is because they think they’ll come back in power. Division is the only solution.
May 7th, 2007 at 8:12 pmI think Iraq is already split. The Kurds will relinquish their autonomy when hell freezes over. The Shiites are laying low because they know they have the votes to prevail. The Sunnis, who had control under Saddam, may not like it now…but if a big civil war breaks out, they are going to like it even less.
May 7th, 2007 at 8:21 pmI hope Bush has at least made plans for hell breaking loose, because Iraq is mostly landlocked…and reaching the safety of our ships is a logistical nightmare.
I hope Bush has at least made plans for hell breaking loose, because Iraq is mostly landlocked…and reaching the safety of our ships is a logistical nightmare.
Comment by Badger — May 7, 2007 @ 8:21 pm
That would be “plan B”
May 7th, 2007 at 8:25 pmI say leave so the Shia and Sunnis kill each other!
May 7th, 2007 at 8:26 pmThere is no plan B!! Bush said those exact words when he was interviewed by Charlie Rose last week. Plan B is to just wait patiently until the morning of January 20, 2009, then on the evening of January 20, 2009, complain that the democrats have us stuck in Iraq.
May 7th, 2007 at 8:39 pmThe Reichwingnuts will find some PR sound bite to spin this into something that will justify the insanity of the Dubya Surge (another name for Stay the Course)…same shit a different day.
May 7th, 2007 at 8:44 pmSunnis don’t trust Shias to fairly portion the oil resources. I think it’s possible that Sunni and Shia can live together, if we get out of their country. I’ve read that some Iraqis are accusing the US of encouraging the sectarian rift. I wonder if Bush thinks he can slip those oil contracts through, since the country is in chaos. The oil contracts the corporations want are for something like thirty years.
May 7th, 2007 at 8:50 pmAren’t the Kurds mostly Sunni?
May 7th, 2007 at 8:52 pmWhat is all this crazy talk about whether “we” or anyone for that matter, does or does not have the right to partition Iraq. This talk is bullshit. This is a sovereign nation. What happens in and to Iraq is for the Iraqis to decide and deal with. No other nation has the right to “rule it.” Period….(…..for emphasis). Colin Powell’s “pottery barn” rule is pure crap. Just because we broke it, doesn’t mean we own it! Responsibility? Yes we have that. After we get out and the situation settles down, we can go back and ASK the new Iraqi leaders how we can help them rebuild their devastated nation the way THEY want it done. And our help should come with no strings attached, like first dibs on their oil, for instance.
The Paul Bremmer edicts that essentially are the rule of law now, have no excuse to exist and should be abandoned. The U.S. created this rule of law, the Iraqis did not.
May 7th, 2007 at 9:08 pmThere is only one course of action that is morally and ethically correct. Get out of Iraq as fast as humanly possibly, including all the permanent bases that we are still building and improving. And about that Green Zone. We should turn that over to them as well. Again, we should leave and be invited back to build a more moderate embassy that fits Iraq’s needs, not our own Pax Americana idea of controlling the ME from there.
if we can agree to split the friggin’ Carolinas, why not Iraq?
May 7th, 2007 at 9:08 pmif we can agree to split the friggin’ Carolinas, why not Iraq?
Comment by Pete Bogs — May 7, 2007 @ 9:08 pm
Great snark! HA HA
May 7th, 2007 at 9:22 pm“The only reason the Sunnis are bitching is because they think they’ll come back in power”
Not quite. The oil reserves (read: money) are in the north and south, under the nominal control of the Kurds and the Shia, respectively. A partition could leave the Sunnis with nothing. At this point, I’d say it’s less about power than it is about resource sharing.
May 7th, 2007 at 9:23 pm“Aren’t the Kurds mostly Sunni?”
No.
May 7th, 2007 at 9:31 pmThe Sunnis know that a partitioned Iraq leaves them without any oil fields.
May 7th, 2007 at 10:01 pmSounds like it’s about oil. What else would “disadvantage” mean?
May 7th, 2007 at 10:07 pmWhat he fails to get is that
May 7th, 2007 at 10:42 pm“the lack of progress in Iraq’s political transition ”
Is the plan.
@PaulB: “Aren’t the Kurds mostly Sunni?†No.
Err, or rather “yes” — Alejandro was correct that the Kurds are mostly Sunni moslems, although when talking about the three-part division described above, “Sunni” is often used as shorthand for “Sunni Arab”.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_people for confirmation; there are some Kurds who are Shites, Christians, etc, but they are minorities.)
May 7th, 2007 at 11:06 pmWell, to be accurate most Kurds are Sunni but they are not Arab so they don’t have strong ties with the western Iraqi Sunnis. So to lump them together would be a mistake. Kurds are by far more western than the Iraqi Sunnis, they aren’t all that religious.
May 7th, 2007 at 11:28 pm#31 — Like it says in your linked article: They “hold their Islam lightly.”
May 7th, 2007 at 11:35 pmSoft partition = almost still a virgin.
May 7th, 2007 at 11:40 pmSoft partition = almost still a virgin.
Comment by RUCerious
Heh.
May 7th, 2007 at 11:47 pmMs Luna, next episode tomorrow AM…
May 7th, 2007 at 11:50 pmMs Luna, next episode tomorrow AM…
Comment by RUCerious
Cool. Thanks, RU. :-)
May 7th, 2007 at 11:56 pmMany of us tend to idealize the Kurds because of their secularism and because of their underdog status under Saddam (and because of their repeated betrayal at the hands of the US government). Although I’ve considered the partition of Iraq to be the most logical approach, I have no illusions that the result would be Eden. Once the Kurds succeed in their goal of creating the foundation of Kurdistan, they are likely to fall out among themselves in short order on political grounds. Expect communism to raise its head in the new Kurdish state, if it ever comes about.
There is considerable oil wealth in the north, and when/if the Kurds come to control it, you can also expect them to have some serious arguments among themselves about how to use that wealth.
There just are no pretty answers.
May 8th, 2007 at 12:00 am#38 No, gummitch, the fact is the Kurds would be attacked by the Turks and we would have a larger Turkey. The problem is what does the US do? Do we attack Turkey for an incursion onto allied territory? I doubt it, whether it is Rep or Dem as the president. That would cost too much.
May 8th, 2007 at 12:15 amBush Regime would like Iraq broken into 3 ethnic zones, but they also want Baghdad itself divided into enclaves. So the city would become another Berlin with walls everywhere.
May 8th, 2007 at 12:52 amcome on People why does he want the Constitution fixed
because in it , it states that all KNOWN WXISTING oil fields belong to Iraq
BUT NOT YET FOUND OIL fields belong to ((( BLANK )))
This is where America is trying to steal the UNKOWN oil fields
Blame Paul Wolfy for this
They have made a “Federal Oil Gas Council” thats decides on the future contracts for UNKOWN oil fields which is ran by Exxon , SHell , and others NO IRAQIS sit on this council and does not have to seek Parlimentary approval for such Stealing
FIX THE CONSTITUTION GIVE THAM FULL SOVEREIGNTY AND STOP THE RIP OFF
this animation at the top of the links page will show you in 30 seconds whats happening
Oil Aninimation – press play
http://www.handsoffiraqioil.org/
May 8th, 2007 at 4:21 am“There IS NO MORE IRAQ. THERE WILL BE THREE TERRITORIES.”
– Arch warcriminal H. Kissinger, briefing his Saudi clients in early 2004.
L. Paul Bremer was the president of Kissinger Associates. His first two CPA orders (#1 and #2) was to deBaathify to four levels and to disband all Iraqi security, police, coast guard, and other services, sending the unemployed soldiers/guardsmen/police home with their side-arms and AK-47s.
Combined with allowing the distribution of “tens of thousands of tons” of materiel like artilliery shells and plastic explosive, the primary ingredients of IEDs, these orders reliably set-off the Iraq civil war, Phase 2 of the Bushco genocide.
Conspiracy to partition a sovereign nation is a direct violation of the UN Charter, and illegal under U.S. law. Conspiracy to commit genocide is likewise a grave crime against humanity. Only criminals propose partition for a country which was invaded illegally.
May 8th, 2007 at 4:47 amThe Iraqi Accord Front has 44 seats in parliament, but altogether the Sunni Arabs have 58, and if all of them boycott al-Maliki, he would be in a difficult position. He has already lost the 32 Sadrist MPs, as well as the 15 of the Islamic Virtue Party. The remaining 85 MPs from the United Iraqi Alliance (Shiite fundamentalists) depend on the 58 deputies of the Kurdistan Alliance to form a majority of 143 in the 275-member parliament. A majority requires at least 138. If any further deputies were to desert him, it is hard to see how al-Maliki could win a vote of no confidence. (The Iraqi constitution allows 50 deputies to call a vote of no confidence; but the Iraqi government is so dysfunctional it is not clear anyone would bother to do so.)
heres agreat site to Bookmark
http://www.juancole.com/
Informed Comment
May 8th, 2007 at 5:21 amHers a great read also
http://www.juancole.com/2007/05/guest-comment-iraq-prognosis-canny.html
A canny Vietnam veteran wrote me the below but requested that it be posted without attribution. I thought it well worth sharing.
Great read … Big Problems ahead for US forces —-
May 8th, 2007 at 5:37 amGetting Rocked In Iraq – great video from BOTH sides WOW
2 points-of-view taken at the same time. 1st part is from inside the US vehicle. 2nd part (probably a repost) is from the Iraqi stone throwers.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=132_1178529835
looks very much like your not welcome – But hey thats only my view
May 8th, 2007 at 5:49 amBehold!
Count Kissinger and the Queen of the Damned
leave their crypt to hobnob with British Royal:
http://first-draft-blog.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/05/07/queen2_2.jpg
May 8th, 2007 at 6:03 amgeorge bush ” were here to help the people of Iraq”
LONDON – The chance that an Iraqi child will live beyond age 5 has plummeted faster than anywhere else in the world since 1990, according to a report released Tuesday, which placed the country last in its child survival rankings.
One in eight Iraqi children died of disease or violence before reaching their fifth birthday in 2005, according to the report by Save the Children, which said Iraq ranked last because it had made the least progress toward improving child survival rates.
May 8th, 2007 at 6:43 amChristians fleeing Iraq after death threats
Iraq’s Christian community is close to extinction as thousands are forced to flee their traditional strongholds in Baghdad.
An exodus of Christians is under way in the southern district of Dora after groups affiliated to al-Qa’eda issued a threat of “convert or be killed”.
Most have fled to Kurdish northern Iraq, where the village of Ankawa has grown into an overcrowded “city of Christ”, while others leave for Syria or Jordan.
Priests claim that half Baghdad’s pre-2003 Christian population – estimated in the hundreds of thousands – has fled or been killed. They also claim that the Iraqi government is failing to protect them.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/08/wiraq08.xml
and I thought Geroge bush was a christian —– Ha Ha Ha Ha
May 8th, 2007 at 6:49 amI never thought G. Bush was a christian…
May 8th, 2007 at 8:40 amIt is the responsibility of all Americans to visit these sites;
http://www.theotheriraq.com/ A site of the only peacful place in Iraq, Kurdistan
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2491526n
Cbs 60 minutes reporting of Kurdistan
http://www.michaeltotten.com/
Award winner blogger that writes about Kurdistan and Iraq
May 9th, 2007 at 6:50 am