| Iraq |
| Sunnis complain about Iran-US talks |
| 2006-03-18 |
| Sunni Arab political leaders on Friday denounced an agreement between the United States and Iran to hold face-to-face talks about solutions to the unrest in Iraq, saying the conversations would amount to meddling by foreign nations in Iraq's domestic affairs. The Iraqi Consensus Front, the country's main Sunni political bloc, issued a statement calling the agreement "an obvious unjustified interference" and asserted that it was not obligated to comply with any results of the negotiations. The Sunni leadership has long criticized Tehran's influence over Iraq's powerful Shiite religious parties, and its opposition to the talks could add another obstacle to the grinding efforts by Iraq's political leaders to forge a coalition government. "The Iraqis in the current government should have these talks with the Iranians and discuss the level of intervention of Iran," Naseer al-Ani, a member of the Sunni Arab bloc, said in a telephone interview. "It's not up to the American ambassador to talk to Iran about Iraq." The agreement between the United States and Iran was announced Thursday. Ali Larijani, general secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Iran's participation came at the request of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a powerful Shiite party with ties to Iran. Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, said the Bush administration would not meet with Iran to negotiate the future of Iraq but rather to voice its concerns about what he called Iran's "unhelpful role" in Iraq. It remained unclear on Friday whether Iraqi leaders would be invited to the meetings. The Sunni criticism came as leaders of Iraq's major political blocs, as well as the American ambassador, gathered in the heavily fortified compound of President Jalal Talabani to discuss the formation of a new Iraqi government. According to several participants, the discussions focused on the proposal to create a national security council composed of leaders of the executive, judicial and legislative branches, as well as representatives of the country's main political blocs. The council would be consulted on pivotal national issues, like the economy, oil policy, public services and security. Some Sunni leaders wanted the council's decisions to have binding executive authority. But, several participants said, the Shiite leadership and others were insisting that the council have only advisory powers, thereby safeguarding the constitutional powers of the executive. A working group planned to continue the discussions on Saturday and was expected to submit its conclusions to the blocs' political leaders by Sunday, officials said. In Halabja, Kurdistan, militias loyal to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party that governs the eastern part of the autonomous region, began a crackdown after a riot on Thursday in which demonstrators destroyed a museum dedicated to the thousands who perished in a poison gas attack by Saddam Hussein's security forces in 1988. The riot began as a rally against government corruption but became violent after government guards fired weapons over the protesters' heads. "The episode is a painful reminder that reforms are needed everywhere in this part of the world," Barham Saleh, Iraq's planning minister and a Kurd, said in an interview on Friday. Although the riot may have arisen in part from the legitimate grievances of frustrated people, he said, radical Islamists might have taken advantage of the discord to foment violence. "Obviously this has to be investigated thoroughly," he said. American and Iraqi security forces continued their search for insurgent hide-outs near Samarra on Friday, the second day of an assault in the area, north of Baghdad, though the results appeared to be modest and the American command began to return some troops to their bases. About 10 people were detained on Friday, bringing the number of suspected insurgents captured during the raid to 47, said Lt. Col. Edward Loomis, a spokesman for the 101st Airborne Division, which is leading the operation. At least 17 have been released after questioning, he said, adding that troops uncovered no new weapons stockpiles on Friday. The operation has garnered widespread attention, in part because Samarra is where a Shiite shrine was bombed by insurgents last month, setting off a wave of sectarian violence. But the military has not suggested that this assault was a direct response to the bombing. The American military command described the push as the largest "air assault" since the invasion in 2003. The military defines air assault as the insertion of troops by aircraft. Some television networks erroneously used the term "airstrikes," conjuring images of the "shock and awe" bombing campaign that heralded the invasion. But there were no reported aerial bombardments during this operation, and Colonel Loomis said Friday that the American and Iraqi forces had encountered no armed resistance and suffered no casualties. The American military reported that a soldier from the 101st Airborne was shot and killed at an observation post in Samarra on Thursday, but the incident appeared to be unrelated to the operation. In Baghdad, the authorities recovered two more bodies, both handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head, according to an official in the Interior Ministry. At least 170 bodies, all showing evidence of execution-style killings, have been recovered around Baghdad in the last 10 days, according to Iraqi officials. Though the motives for most of the killings remain unclear, officials fear that the wave of executions is a continuation of the sectarian reprisals that followed the destruction of the Samarra shrine last month. Gunmen fired on Shiite pilgrims in several locations on Friday, killing at least one and wounding 12, the ministry official said. An improvised bomb, apparently directed at pilgrims, exploded on the road between Mahmudiya and Karbala, killing one and wounding four, the official said. Thousands of Shiites are converging on Karbala, in the south, to celebrate the end of the 40-day mourning period commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. |
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| Iraq |
| Iraqi Sunnis to rejoin talks with government |
| 2006-02-27 |
| Leaders of the main Sunni Arab political bloc have decided to return to suspended talks over the formation of a new government, the top Sunni negotiator said Sunday. The step could help defuse the sectarian tensions that threatened to spiral into open civil war last week after the bombing of a Shiite shrine and the killings of Sunnis in reprisal. That bloodletting has amounted to the worst sectarian violence since the American invasion nearly three years ago, and the possibility of Iraqis killing one another on an even greater scale appears to have helped drive Sunni Arab politicians back to moderation, after they angrily withdrew from negotiations last Thursday. The Bush administration has pegged its hopes for dampening the Sunni-led insurgency, and withdrawing some of the 130,000 American troops here, to Sunni Arab participation in the political process. While the Sunni bloc, the Iraqi Consensus Front, has not publicly announced its decision and could still reverse course, Iraqi officials say the talks may resume as early as this week, depending on the level of tension in the streets. Sectarian violence appeared to be ebbing across Iraq on Sunday, with more people venturing outside for the first time in days. Nonetheless, Shiite militiamen retained control of some Sunni mosques they had raided, and scattered mayhem left at least 14 people dead, including three American soldiers. At least 227 people have been killed since the shrine bombing. The young spiritual leader of the Shiite militiamen, Moktada al-Sadr, made his first appearance in Iraq since the paroxysm of violence. He arrived in the southern port city of Basra from a trip to Iran, and, in a rare public speech, called for unity between Shiites and Sunnis while demanding a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces. Blaming the American military for the recent violence, he told Iraqis to "cut off the head of the snake." Thousands of followers, some waving Kalashnikov rifles, cheered in the streets. The return to talks of the Sunni Arab bloc would be a crucial step in keeping on track the formation of a permanent government, which was mired in troubled negotiations even before the attack last Wednesday. The Sunni negotiator, Mahmoud al-Mashhadany, said Sunni politicians now recognize the need to form a widely inclusive government as quickly as possible to succeed the current interim government, dominated by religious Shiites and Kurds. "We've canceled our withdrawal from the talks," Mr. Mashhadany said in a telephone interview. "We should hurry up and form a national unity government, to change this hopeless government. In the new government, everyone will handle responsibility." The Bush administration has been pressuring the majority Shiites and the Kurds to allow significant Sunni Arab representation in the coming four-year government, in hopes of politically engaging the Sunni-led insurgency. The Sunni Arabs are severely underrepresented in the current government because they boycotted elections in January 2005. The mediation efforts of the American ambassador here, Zalmay Khalilzad, were dealt a serious blow last Thursday, when the leaders of the Iraqi Consensus Front, which is religiously conservative, said they were boycotting talks on forming a government out of anger at the sectarian violence, organized mostly by Mr. Sadr's militiamen after the bombing of the golden-domed Askariya Shrine in Samarra. The Sunni Arabs presented a list of demands to the Shiite-dominated government, including repairing the damaged mosques and honoring the memory of Sunnis who were killed. On Saturday night, at an emergency meeting of political leaders, the Iraqi prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, said the demands were valid. Mr. Mashhadany said Sunday that the Sunni Arabs would remain vigilant for any broken promises from the Shiites. "We don't need words on paper," he said. "We need them to implement these changes." But he generally struck a conciliatory tone, saying "there's a desire to accelerate the formation of the cabinet" and adding, "This is from the leadership of all the groups the Sunnis, the Shia and the Kurds." In the past several days, Iraqi officials have put aside the negotiations to deal immediately with the sectarian violence. If the streets remain calm on Monday, they say, that could prompt leaders to restart the talks. The Iraqi government announced that on Monday it would lift an extraordinary day curfew it had imposed on Baghdad since Friday. "We're not yet talking about forming the government," said Sheik Jalaladeen al-Sagheir, a senior Shiite politician. "We want to make sure the air is clear first." In the past several days, American diplomats have conferred with Iraqi leaders to try to bring all the parties together. The Americans approached several Iraqi officials, particularly Sunni Arabs, requesting their presence at the emergency meeting called by Mr. Jaafari on Saturday night. "We strongly felt Sunni Arabs had to be there and accept the invitation," one diplomat said. At the meeting, dozens of politicians formed an advisory council to look into reducing the sectarian tensions. All sides still have major concerns: Some Sunni Arab leaders, for instance, are demanding that the Shiite-dominated police, accused of running death squads and torture chambers, release Sunnis who were arrested during the wave of violence. Attacks that took place Sunday were, for the most part, less intense than the recent violence. Eight mortar rounds landed near two Shiite mosques in the troubled Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, killing at least 8 and wounding at least 32. In Baquba, 30 miles northeast of Baghdad, gunmen fired on boys playing soccer, killing two and wounding at least five. A roadside bomb around Baghdad killed at least one Iraqi commando officer in a convoy. A bomb exploded in a Shiite mosque in Basra, causing minor injuries. The American military said two soldiers had been killed early Sunday in Baghdad by a roadside bomb. Another soldier died from small-arms fire in the evening. No word emerged on Sunday of the fate of Jill Carroll, the 28-year-old American journalist abducted in early January. Her captors issued a statement through a Kuwaiti television station this month demanding that the Americans and Iraqis release all imprisoned women by Sunday, or Ms. Carroll would be killed. The Americans have said they do not negotiate with militants. Though the streets of Iraq remained mostly quiet throughout the day, a general atmosphere of anxiety still blanketed the country. The police intensified patrols and checkpoints on the outskirts of Najaf, the southern city that is home to Shiite Islam's holiest shrine and its most revered cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. In the Baghdad neighborhood of Zaiyuna, militants who had engaged in firefights by a Sunni mosque in the past two days seemed to have disappeared. "Today, it's tense but quiet," said Ansam al-Abaiyachi, a women's rights advocate. Members of the Mahdi Army, Mr. Sadr's militia, still kept control of some Sunni mosques they had stormed last week. They stood guard around the buildings with Kalashnikovs, but many had doffed their black uniforms, on orders from senior Sadr officials. In some instances, they tried to persuade Sunni worshipers that the Shiites had a right to keep the mosque. That was the case at one mosque on Palestine Street in Baghdad, near Sadr City, the militia's enclave. The Sadr followers occupying it told neighborhood Sunnis that it had been a Shiite mosque before Saddam Hussein's government converted it into a Sunni house of worship. Last week, the militiamen expelled the imam and renamed the building the Ali Mosque, after the martyred son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, revered by Shiites. The militiamen had also set up a checkpoint near the mosque. Policemen tried futilely to persuade them to take it down. "They're like the Baathists from before," one police officer said, making the comparison with members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. "You can't talk to them. You can't say anything to them." The leader of the Mahdi Army, Mr. Sadr, preached calm in his speech in Basra. He was visiting leaders throughout the Middle East when the violence erupted last week. His last stop was Tehran, Iran. The Shiites and Sunnis, he said, must "be brothers, and love each other, so that our Iraq can be safe, stable, independent, and free of the occupation." As the crowd of thousands roared, Mr. Sadr called for a peaceful demonstration to be held against the American-led forces. "We got rid of the accursed Saddam only to be replaced by another dictatorship, the dictatorship of Britain, America and Israel," he said. In northern Baghdad, in the Sunni stronghold of Adhamiya, young men with Kalashnikovs guarded mosques, still fearful of Shiite assaults. Police officers, generally distrusted by Sunni Arabs, remained at checkpoints on the outskirts of the neighborhood. Makeshift barricades of bricks and stones blocked some roads. There were signs, though, of normal life seeping back in. Children frolicked in the blazing sun. People wandered around with buckets of fuel or kerosene, carting them home after days spent hunkered down indoors. The main mosque in Adhamiya, Abu Hanifa, was the scene of a televised joint prayer service on Saturday between Sadr clerics and conservative Sunni imams. "I think the meetings between Shia and Sunni clerics have helped defuse the situation," said Salam Suhail, who sells automotive spare parts. "Any sectarian war would be a catastrophe for us. We'd rather have a tsunami than a war between Shia and Sunni." |
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| Iraq |
| More on Iraqi Sunnis planning to vote |
| 2005-12-10 |
| Their candidates have been assassinated, their party offices attacked, but hopes are mounting among Iraq's Sunni Arab politicians that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, will not make a serious effort to disrupt next week's national elections. Despite threatening to block previous votes, this time the Jordanian militant, believed to be responsible for most of the suicide bombings in Iraq, has been silent. "He's changed his strategy because he has discovered how confident and determined we are to vote," Azhar Abdel Majeed al-Samarrai, a leading candidate for the Iraqi Consensus Front, an alliance of the main Sunni parties, told the Guardian yesterday. But predictions of calm are always risky in Iraq. US forces are gearing up for a massive security operation for polling day on Thursday and the Iraqi government has closed the borders to non-Iraqi Arabs and declared a state of emergency in Anbar and Nineveh provinces, where the majority of the population is Sunni. "We are not complacent," Major General Rick Lynch, a senior military spokesman, told reporters. "The insurgency wants to disrupt the democratic process." His statement is in line with the Bush administration's long-standing juxtaposition of bullets versus ballots, and its repeated claim that the insurgency is bound to target any election. But the clear desire of many Sunnis to vote next week has changed the dynamic within the insurgency. "Zarqawi is in a dilemma because many Sunnis want to vote," a senior western political official said this week. The same dilemma confronts Iraq's homegrown insurgents, who rely mainly on the Sunni population for support and recruits. A Sunni cleric from the influential Association of Muslim Scholars told worshippers at Baghdad's Umm al-Qura mosque yesterday it was a "religious duty" to vote next week. "The date of December 15 is a landmark event. It is a decisive battle that will determine our future. If you give your vote to the wrong people, then the occupation will continue and the country would be lost," he said. A crucial moment in the campaign for Sunni votes was the recent murder of Sheikh Ayad al-Izzi, a cleric and engineer who was a leading member of the Iraqi Islamic party and a candidate for the Iraqi Consensus Front. He had just left a campaign rally in Falluja on November 28 when gunmen drove past his car and killed him and two colleagues. A huge crowd came to his funeral last week. "I think Zarqawi will become smaller and smaller, especially after we lost this man from our list," Azhar Abdel Majeed al-Samarrai said yesterday. Perhaps under pressure of mounting Sunni anger, al-Qaida in Iraq took no responsibility for the murder and even put out a statement denouncing it. Ms Samarrai, a university lecturer in microbiology, was speaking at a conference of around 600 women supporters of the Iraqi Islamic party in the Baghdad suburb of Yarmuk yesterday. Their heads covered with scarves, they listened intently to poems, speeches and songs which were more nationalist than Islamic. Even as it confronts Zarqawi, the Islamic party is a firm opponent of the American occupation. "We will liberate our country from the enemy no matter how many troops he brings," a group of three men sang from the stage. "The whole world will witness that." Women clapped in time to the music. Many held up pictures of the murdered candidate. "Rise up, Baghdad. Rebel, Baghdad. You will not be shaken by the forces of the enemy," another song went. Ammar Wajeeb, another leading party member, told the audience that Iraqi women had been through a lot in the past two years. "Your suffering has probably exceeded that of Palestinian women. Most of you have endured the killing of a father, brother, husband, or other relative," he said. "Count your blessings. A few months ago I was in Britain for the first time. Compared to women in Britain I felt Iraqi women live with such honour and dignity." |
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| Iraq |
| Iraqi Sunni coalition lists priorities |
| 2005-11-17 |
| A Sunni Arab coalition running in next month's general elections has declared that its priority in the new parliament will be to amend the country's new constitution and work on speeding withdrawal of foreign troops. Leaders of the Iraqi Consensus Front said they will work to end ethnic and sectarian quotas for country's Shia, Sunni and Kurdish communities in politics, release all detainees from government prisons and review the laws instituted since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003. Although not all Sunni groups plan to take part in the elections, the participation of the front, which includes the Iraqi Islamic Party, the General Conference of the Iraqi People and the National Dialogue Front, is a major change for the sect that ruled Iraq since the domination of Islam on the country in the seventh century. "It is necessary to have a strong state that is capable of running the country's affairs in a good way that will end all the justifications that the occupiers use as an excuse" to stay, the statement said. They added that they will work to make the "occupation forces" put forth a timetable for their withdrawal. The coalition called for the differentiation between the "national resistance" and "terrorism that slipped into the country during the absence of the state". The group appeared to be differentiating between nationalist fighters and al-Qaida in Iraq, which is allegedly led by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The front also wants to amend articles in the constitution that "infringe on the country's sovereignty and its Arab identity". Sunnis have complained about a clause that says Iraq is a founding member of the Arab League, but does not say that it is part of the Arab Nation (the 22 Arab member states of the Arab League). |
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