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| Iraq |
| Secular Sunnis join main Shi'ite coalition |
| 2006-02-10 |
| The main political alliance representing Iraq's ousted Sunni Arab elite won a new boost Thursday with the accession of a second secular faction to its parliamentary bloc, making it by a long way the second biggest in the legislature. The announcement came as more than a million Shiites marked the mourning ceremony of Ashura amid heavy Iraqi security presence to prevent stampedes and attacks. The secular National Dialogue Front led by Sunni Arab politician Saleh al-Mutlaq said its 11 MPs were joining the Joint Council for National Action, giving it a total of 80 seats in the 275-seat Parliament, comfortably ahead of the 53 seats held by the main Kurdish alliance. Mutlag's faction was the second secular movement to make common cause with the Sunni religious parties of the National Accordance Front. The Iraqi National List, an alliance of secular and leftist parties led by secular former premier Iyad Allawi already announced the accession of its 25 MPs to the new Joint Council last month. The main Shiite alliance is still poised to lead the new government. On Saturday the alliance will declare its candidate for the prime minister's post. The announcement, originally scheduled for Monday, was delayed for the Ashura ceremony. Some 8,000 security personnel imposed a massive lockdown on Karbala Thursday, forbidding access to cars, searching hotels and conducting body searches on thousands of black-clad pilgrims. "The ceremony was attended by more than a million pilgrims who participated since sunrise," Karbala police chief General Razeq Abdel-Ali al-Tayi said. Large groups of men with shaven heads marched toward the mausoleum of Imam Hussein flagellating their heads with knives and swords as part of the ceremonies commemorating Hussein's martyrdom. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 See? Liberalhawk, I can't even parse that statement. I tried, and as far as I can tell, you just placed yourself at a certain particular point on the plane of political somethings. I think you've added a couple extra axes to the usual xy thingy I'm used to... and I can't do n-space (nor Hilliard Space, either, Alaska Paul. Never thought I'd get that one back atcha, did you). |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-02-10 18:57 |
| #5 as the only Right wing social democrat/left wing New Democrat with neo-conservative leanings here, i humbly accept your thanks :) |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-02-10 13:46 |
| #4 liberalhawk, only a person who understands all the splitters of the various Socialist/Communist/Marxist/Stalinist/etc flavours ;-) could give such an insightful and cogent summation. Thank you! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-02-10 11:56 |
| #3 Sunni-secularist coalition, since it includes Allawi, himeself a Shiite and with Shiites in his party. Significant that they are moving that way, since some had thought there the religious Sunnis might join with UIA in a pro-Sharia coalition leaving Allawi and the Kurds out in the cold. On the issue of Sharia, and on the American role, Alawi and the Sunni religious are at opposite poles. What this shows is that the dominant issue in Iraq now, is NOT Sharia, and its NOT the American presence (despite what our misguided press and pundits think) Its the internal organization of Iraq - how federalist will it be, how centralized will it be, who will control the oil, etc. These issues, and only these issues, are the ones that bring Allawi together with all the Sunnis, secular and religious. At the other end is SCIRI. Holding the balance in between are the Kurds (who want an autonomous Kurdistan, but could live with the Rest of Iraq being united - kinda how the Quebecers are indifferent to autonomy for Alberta and BC) and the Shiite groups other than SCIRI - IE Dawa,Fadllala, and the Sadrists. Of course these latter are still joined with SCIRI in UIA. Which is why the current squabling within UIA about who will be PM is so interesting. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-02-10 09:37 |
| #2 That would be main Sunni coalition. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2006-02-10 04:53 |
| #1 A million militant Iraqis. All in a crowd. What an opportunity. ---hey, a haiku! |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2006-02-10 01:35 |