A Divided Iraq Unites Against Partition Plan

[babylonsister]

A Divided Iraq Unites Against Partition Plan
Even US Embassy Opposes Resolution
by Ned Parker and Raheem Salman

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq’s divided political leadership, in a rare show of unity, skewered a non-binding U.S. Senate resolution approved in Washington, D.C., last week that endorses the decentralization of Iraq through the establishment of semi-autonomous regions.Also on Sunday, the U.S. Embassy joined the Iraqi politicians - both Shiite and Sunni - in criticizing the resolution.

The measure’s advocacy of a relatively weak central government and strong Sunni Arab, Shiite and Kurdish regions has touched a nerve in the Iraqi political arena, stoking fears that the United States is planning to partition Iraq.

“The Congress adopted this proposal based on an incorrect reading and unrealistic estimations of the history, present and future of Iraq,” said Izzat al-Shahbandar, a member of secular ex-prime minister Ayad Allawi’s parliament bloc.

He was reading from a statement also signed by Iraq’s pre-eminent religious Shiite Muslim parties and the main Sunni Arab bloc.

“It represents a dangerous precedent to establishing the nature of the relationship between Iraq and the USA,” the statement said, “and shows the Congress as if it were planning for a long-term occupation by their country’s troops.”

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/01/4226/

[Selatius]

1. That's probably because the plan would be imposed from the outside, not self-imposed on the inside

If the US withdrew its troops, the country will probably partition itself without the US doing it for them. It's the thought of the US doing it for them that offends them.

[babylonsister]

2. You could be right, but I don't blame them for their fear of the 'help' we

want to give. How much 'help' can they bear?

[TwilightGardener]

3. Yikes. Makes our Senate look kinda stupid--

Iraqis might eventually divide themselves, but I wondered what business it was of ours to pass a resolution about it. I also had my doubts when Russ Feingold and Chuck Hagel voted against it--two guys who have very good foreign policy instincts and don't follow the herd.

[babylonsister]

4. I think they were grasping at straws; the Iraqis sure have let it be

known they don't approve. And you're right about those instincts of Feingold and Hagel.

[TwilightGardener]

5. I appreciate what Biden was trying to do--his heart was definitely in the

right place, no one else seems to have any good ideas, and on the surface, it seems like a natural solution--and it may come about anyway, and then Biden will be proven right. But the Iraqis are in such a precarious position right now in terms of government, it just seems wrong for the U.S. now to say, "We wrecked your country, and you'll never be truly unified, so here's another of our bright ideas..."