 Iraq's Sunni minority watched the opening of the new Iraqi Parliament yesterday straddling a fence, torn between support of the deadly insurgency and a wish to join the democratic process.
| Too bad they decided to pass on the election, ain't it? |
If the first session of Parliament was a celebration of democracy for Iraq's long persecuted Shiites and Kurds, the Sunnis, who ruled the country for most of its 85-year modern history, found it a stinging reminder of how far the mighty had fallen.
| Still defending Sammy with their blood. Life's tough. It's tougher when you're stoopid. |
The Sunnis, who make up around 20 percent of Iraq's 27-million population, are trying to reconcile themselves to their new destiny as just one face among the many. Iraq's insurgency has sprung up mainly in central Iraq in Sunni Muslim areas, where anger about the US-led invasion two years ago and the meteoric rise of the Shiites persuaded many to take up armed struggle or democratic politics.
| They mean "armed struggle instead of democratic politix." |
Sunni politician Meshaan Jabouri, a member of the new Parliament, embodies the contradictions. He draws a distinction between good and bad resistance fighters. "We are part of the resistance but we are relying on peaceful ways to drive out the occupiers. They think that arms is the best weapon (to fight the occupation). We are brothers complementing each other," he said.
| Ah, yes. The emergence of the "political wing"... |
Genuine regret over the Sunni decision to boycott the Jan. 30 election appears to exist in the community.
| Screwed that up, didn't they? That could be because the Sunni leadership, and presumably the followership as well, lacks the imagination to come up with anything better than a 1930s-style dictatorship to run their country... |
The vote left the Sunnis with a paltry 20 Parliament seats and handed the long-oppressed Kurds disproportionate influence in the next government. But the Sunnis have yet to reconcile themselves to the new political order.
| They couldn't reconcile themselves to the idea of having elections, either. They're not very good at reconciling things, are they? |
The Shiite and Kurdish victors have repeatedly stated their wish to have Sunnis represented in government posts and the committee that will draft Iraq's permanent constitution. In a bid to organize the Sunnis politically, Iraq's outgoing president, tribal magnate Sheikh Ghazi Al-Yawar, whose list gained five seats, has established an alliance with the Islamic Party and elder Shiite and Kurdish leaders on Tuesday for talks on forming the next government.
| Learns pretty quick, doesn't he? |
"The committee maintains its position: We will not take part in the government as long as the country is under occupation. But we do not oppose those who want to take part to serve the country and pull it out of its misery," Sunni cleric Harith Al-Dari, who heads the organization, said on Tuesday.
But questions remain whether the establishment parties truly represent Sunnis, who are now widely seen as lacking any coherent voice.
| They've seemed incoherent ever since they stopped hollering "Saddam, we will defend you with our blood!" |
"It's almost like what you had is a glass statue and you smashed it with a hammer and all you've got is these pieces. And that's the state of the Iraqi community today. It's really fractured," a Western diplomat told AFP. "The only thing that I think is going to help is to very quickly organize some broadly representative caucuses or meetings.
| I wonder what kind of explosives are considred appropriate for Iraqi caucuses? |
Senior Sunni politician Nasser Al-Chaderchi worries that the Sunni community is too caught up in the romanticism of violent resistance. This is illogical, and unacceptable. It is an extreme speech aimed at erasing others which is something unbelievable. "They (Sunnis) are against Shiites and Kurds and do not accept the idea of having power rotating democratically. They are against the interim constitution and against democracy in Iraq."
| Then they don't have anything to talk about, do they? And the Iraqis are better off leaving them out of the government, since they need to be ruled, rather than governed... |
He criticized many of the Sunni groups for failing to break unequivocally with the insurgency. "First of all, Sunni Islamic and nationalist parties should have the courage to condemn terrorism in all of its shapes," the politician said. The paradox is on full display among the religious hierarchy who have eclipsed any secular Sunni leadership with the fall of Saddam Hussein. "Honest resistance is a crown that should be put on head of Iraqis and we cannot give it up. But that does not mean that we are to give up being part of the political process," says Sheikh Rafi Al-Samarrai, a member of the Sunni Waqf (endowments), a body responsible for administering Sunni mosques and charitable works. |