Iraqi leaders: national reconciliation is unattainable.

The Washington Post reports this morning that “several top Iraqi leaders say they have lost faith in” the idea that “national reconciliation” can come amid the competing struggle for power of Iraq’s various factions. Reconciliation “is a very inaccurate term,” said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih. “This is a struggle about power“:

Iraqi leaders argue that sectarian animosity is entrenched in the structure of their government. Instead of reconciliation, they now stress alternative and perhaps more attainable goals: streamlining the government bureaucracy, placing experienced technocrats in positions of authority and improving the dismal record of providing basic services.

“I don’t think there is something called reconciliation, and there will be no reconciliation as such,” said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd. “To me, it is a very inaccurate term. This is a struggle about power.”