February 5, 2005
GEE, YOU MEAN THEY DON'T WANT TO FIGHT TO THEIR OWN DEATHS?:
After Boycott, Sunnis Knock on Back Door (Ashraf Khalil, February 5, 2005, LA Times)
Sunni Muslim political and religious leaders who led a boycott of the Iraqi national election Sunday are now signaling a desire to engage in the political process and help write the country's new constitution.The new stance may represent a turning point in efforts to involve Iraq's Sunni minority, which dominated the country during Saddam Hussein's regime and whose opposition to the new political order has fueled the violent insurgency and threatened prolonged instability.
The shift was in evidence Friday at Baghdad's Umm Qura mosque, headquarters of the hard-line Muslim Scholars Assn. After the prayers, a government official was permitted to issue a call for Sunni participation in future electoral rounds.
"We ask you to participate in the next elections," said Adnan Mohammed Salman, a spokesman for the Ministry of Religious Endowments, which oversees the country's mosques. "We must prepare and unite our ranks."
By allowing such a statement to be issued at the mosque, Sunni leaders apparently are acknowledging that the best way to protect their community's interests is through participation in the political process.
What other choice did they have? Posted by Orrin Judd at February 5, 2005 7:46 AM
They could wholeheartedly support Saudi-sponsored Sunni terrorists like Zarqawi, but that would upset the more secular Sunnis that were the Saddam base. They could petition for separatism but that would create a large democratic Shia state on the Saudi border and that is something that neither the Saudis nor the American State Department apparat would ever tolerate.
They could petition the World Court for redress of every perceived grievance they have, and the World Court could send out its police force to enforce its decisions against an American ally.(sarcasm intended)
Posted by: Bart at February 5, 2005 8:26 AMWith the US backing away (gingerly) from the Saudis, I don't think they have the ability to be intolerant of their neighbors. A vibrant Iraq will eclipse Saudi Arabia in less than 10 years.
Posted by: jim hamlen at February 5, 2005 10:22 AMThey were "Iraqis" before they were muslim.
Posted by: Sandy P at February 5, 2005 9:06 PMSandy,
'Iraq' is an artificial creation of the British Empire. The people of the region were Kurds Turkomans and assorted Semitic tribes before the advent of Islam.
Posted by: Bart at February 6, 2005 8:06 AM