| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Islamic Militants Gaining In Iraq |
| 2014-07-02 |
| [USATODAY] Iraq's parliament met briefly Tuesday with a view to start forming a new government, and with the focus on whether Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki can stay in power. Another looming question, though, is should this war-torn country be divided into three sectarian zones as a way to bring peace? Last month's blitzkrieg by Sunni Islamic militants across Iraq's north and west has fragmented this country into distinct regions — the Shiite majority in Baghdad and the south, the minority Sunnis in the north and the semi-autonomous Kurds in the northeast. The United States is pushing al-Maliki to form a unified government with all three groups, but some wonder if that is possible at this point. "It is so difficult to predict what will happen," said Omar Mohammed, a dentist in Diyala in eastern Iraq. "I would accept any solution to stop the bloodshed, even if it was a confederation or division." The quick success by the militants, an al-Qaeda splinter group now calling itself the Islamic State, stems in part from a power vacuum. Citizens in Mosul — the second largest city in Iraq — and other Sunni towns have long resented al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government as corrupt. They often welcomed the Islamic fighters as an alternative to Iraqi soldiers who behaved more like occupiers than protectors. The soldiers put up almost no resistance and fled before the Islamic State advanced. "Al-Maliki should step down," said Saif Salah Aldeen Al-Azzawi, a Sunni student in Baghdad who believes the government catered only to Shiites and was too sympathetic to Iran. "Establish a national unity government that rewrites the constitution. They don't believe in coexistence. Their hands are full with Iraqi blood, working for Iran to make Iraq its rear garden." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Let's hope for another 100 year war... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2014-07-02 16:25 |