Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said yesterday he âhoped beyond hopeâ a sovereign Iraq would emerge quickly and warned any breakup of the country would spark civil war and wider conflict. In an interview with Reuters in Riyadh, Prince Saud said security was a precondition to the handover of power by Washington to a sovereign Iraqi government. âThe impact of a fragmented Iraq will not be just on Saudi Arabia, but on the whole region. I think there would be conflict between the Iraqi independent (ethnic and religious) entities that would arise. This would spread to neighboring countries,â he said. Prince Saud said any US plan for a political map based on ethnic and religious divisions would be dangerous. âIf you give a federation to one ethnic entity there will be a wish from another... It is in the interest of all ethnic or religious groups to have a united Iraq rather than an Iraq divided along ethnic and religious lines that could cause strife in the future,â he said.
But if it's essential to have a united Iraq, then it would follow that it would also be essential to have an Iraq in which all the ethnic and religious groups' rights are protected, even coddled. Instead, the Shiites are demanding implementation of shariah and political control, the Sunnis are trying to kill everybody in sight, and the Kurds, Assyrians, and Chaldeans are thinking more seriously about an independent Kurdistan. | Leaders of Iraqâs neighbors met in Turkey last year ahead of the US-led war to make commitments not to interfere in Iraq, Prince Saud said. âOn paper, they all agreed that this was what needed to be done. But should Iraq fragment, then who knew what would happen?â he said, adding that Turkey had already made its position clear. Turkey fears Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq could stir up similar aspirations among its own Kurdish minority and has warned it would intervene if Iraqi Kurds declared independence. Its powerful military has said an ethnic-based federation in Iraq would be âdifficult and bloodyâ.
And it wouldn't be Turkish... | âYou follow the logic to its ultimate conclusion â that there will be a conflict that the neighbors of Iraq will interfere in. Then where is it going to end?â Prince Saud said.
I guess the solution would be for a secular state with minority rights protected. Every time anybody says that some cleric explodes. |
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