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Iraq
Arab League Decries U.S. Actions in Iraq
2004-02-08
The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq is threatening the Iraqi and regional stability by empowering Kurdish and Shiite Muslim groups, according to an Arab League report. The report, drawn up by an Arab League delegation that visited Iraq in December, is circulating among the 22 members of the Cairo-based Arab League but has not been made public. It reflects concerns among Arab countries that changes in the sharing of power in a post-Saddam Hussein government could give too much authority to the Kurdish and Shiite Muslim groups, inspiring those minority groups in neighboring countries to rise up and demand more power.
Kurds in Syria, Turkey, and Iran, Shiites in Soddy Arabia and the Gulf States...
Arab states are predominantly Sunni, but Sunnis in Iraq have dominated politics — even though the Shiites make up 60 percent of the population. The only other places where Shiites dominate in population and political power is non-Arab Iran. The Saudi leadership have long feared unrest among its minority Shiite community. "Iraqis find geographical and ethnic federalism a prelude to division of the country," said the report, which does not name the country's Shiites but uses the term "sectarianism" to refer to Shiite and Kurdish political aspirations.
Think of it as one of several possible alternatives...
The Shiites are pushing for majority representation in the government. Kurds, who have gained authority in the north of Iraq, seek federal autonomy from the government in Baghdad.
A hiite-controlled state would result in an even larger Shiite majority when the Kurds broke off. I suspect the Sunnis would do the same.
The leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Jalal Talabani, rejected the report. The PUK is one of two main Kurdish parties controlling Kurdish northern Iraq. "Those chauvinists are trying to demonize federalism to scare simple-minded people and poison their minds," Talabani wrote in an article published Saturday in the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.
That's why they call themselves the Arab League, rather than something a little more inclusive...
The Arab League delegation, headed by Assistant Secretary-General Ahmed Bin Heli, spent 10 days in Iraq meeting with members of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council, the Cabinet, religious leaders, tribal chiefs and trade union representatives. Its findings will be formally submitted to a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in March and later to an Arab summit.
Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#9  Fred, the agnostic seminaries'll be a medium/long term thing, for short term 'extreme humiliation' only Shi'a ones will do. True Believers tend to find heretics even more obnoxious than infidels - the Ottomans treated the Qizilbash (Turkish Shi'as) far more brutally than they treated their Christian subjects & ISTR mediaeval Sunni's regarded shedding the blood of Ism'ailis as far more meritorious than killing mere kaffirs.
Re teaching skepticism, you may find a work by the late & lamented Mufti ibn Baz useful in exposing the idiocy of Wahhabi clergymen, IIRC it's called 'Jarayan ash-Shams wa'l Qamar wa sukoun al-'Ard' - The motion of the Sun & the Moon & the Stationarity of the Earth. After all everyone knows what an appalling kaffir Copernicus was...
Posted by: Dave   2004-2-8 5:48:14 PM  

#8  I just love hearing about these people squirm. Tells the status quo is over and things are changing.
Just thank god we have Bush in office. Right man at the right time in history.
Could you imagine a clinton or gore admin when were attacked.

Clinton - lob a few cruise missles into abandoned camps and asking for forgiveness from the corrupt arab leaders.

Gore - probably doing the same except he would run to the supreme court to verify his actions were legal.

Posted by: Dan   2004-2-8 4:31:21 PM  

#7  Hopefully to go with the agnostic seminaries we'll establish. I'll submit my resume as soon as they're set up. I'd like to teach skepticism.
Posted by: Fred   2004-2-8 4:26:35 PM  

#6  
Wahabistan: location central Arabia. Main source of income: export of camel dung
No! Rashidistan, just to really rub the Sa'udi's faces in the crap. According to Arab News (so it must be true) there are still a few members of clan-Rashid knocking about - maybe it's time they were allowed to get in some Dire Revenge for that unpleasant business back in the 1920s? IMO Rashidistan should have a few public holidays celebrating:
1. The razing of Diriyah (Old Sa'udi capital) to the ground by Mehmet Ali's people,
2. The decapitation of King Abdullah as-Sa'ud by the Ottomans,
3. The capture of Riyadh by the Rashidis & the flight of the Sa'udi clan to Kuwait.
4. The decline & fall of the 3rd Sa'udi Empire?
That should be humilating enough for now, if the bayt as-Sa'ud don't seeth enough just establish a few Shi'a seminaries in Riyadh...
Posted by: Dave   2004-2-8 3:29:47 PM  

#5  So the Arab League has their knickers in a twist about what we're doing in the Middle East?

Yesss! We must be doing something right!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2004-2-8 1:53:38 PM  

#4  LOL! Dr Steve, I certainly like your map of the ME better than the Sykes-Picot confabulation!

JFM's take is spot-on, too, since the US would hold the REA as a permanent protectorate and retain all proceeds therefrom.

I would add to the list a new entity: the RWP, Republic of Western Persia, which would contain all of the oil assets of Iran - situated in a conveniently narrow strip along their western border. This entity would also be a permanent US protectorate.

The proceeds from this entity would be held in trust for the Iranian people. Funds would be released as long as their Gov't was truly a representative democratic Republic - in actuality, not just in name as is the currently fashionable practice in the world. [Hmmm... Is there a dictatorship or thugocracy in the world which doesn't use some form of 'democratic' or 'republic' in it's name?] Absolute constitutional requirements would include 1) the total separation of church and state -- and 2) potent and vigorously enforced laws against discrimination for race, gender, religion, ethnicity, and age - otherwise all funds are withheld. The US would be responsible for any repairs needed to restore the oil industry. The first 6 months proceeds would repay the US for the cost of tipping over the Mad Mullahs and their sycophant thugs. One month's proceeds would be withheld each year for maintenance and upgrades to oil industry plant facilities and equipment. The US would be sole contractor to mine and sole buyer, at market value, of all uranium resources present in Iran and the RWP.
Posted by: .com   2004-2-8 12:27:57 PM  

#3  The next thing you know, the Turkmen in Iraq will get to vote too!
Posted by: Mike Sylwester   2004-2-8 12:27:13 PM  

#2  And most important:

Wahabistan: location central Arabia. Main source of income: export of camel dung
Posted by: JFM   2004-2-8 3:36:24 AM  

#1  ...inspiring those minority groups in neighboring countries to rise up and demand more power.

Gosh, that'd be ... be ... terrible! Wudn't it?

Let's see:

Republic of Eastern Arabia -- 40 km wide on the Gulf
Hashemite Kingdom of Arabia -- controls the holy sites
Hashemite Kingdom of Central Iraq -- version 2
Federated Republic of Kurdistan -- Iraqi + Iranian + Syrian parts
Republic of Southern Iraq -- friendly Shi'as, wotta change
Posted by: Steve White   2004-2-8 12:21:22 AM  

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