NYT: U.S. Is Suggesting Guaranteed Role for Iraq's Sunnis

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 - The Bush administration is talking to Iraqi leaders about guaranteeing Sunni Arabs a certain number of ministries or high-level jobs in the future Iraqi government if, as is widely predicted, Sunni candidates fail to do well in Iraq's elections.

An even more radical step, one that a Western diplomat said was raised already with an aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, is the possibility of adding some of the top vote-getters among the Sunni candidates to the 275-member legislature, even if they lose to non-Sunni candidates.

The diplomat said even some Shiite politicians who were followers of Ayatollah Sistani were concerned that a Pyrrhic victory by Shiites, effectively shutting Sunni Arabs out of power, could alienate Sunnis and lead to more internal strife. Shiites make up about 60 percent of Iraqis and were generally denied power under Saddam Hussein.

(snip)

The idea of adding Sunnis to the legislature after the election was acknowledged by officials as likely to be difficult to carry out, but they said it might be necessary to avoid Sunni estrangement.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2004/12/26/international/middleeast/26diplo.html?hp&ex=1104037200&en=dc34a08c61975e6d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[NYC]

1. See? Election results don't matter.

Bush & Co. will get people in office.

[iconoclastic cat]

2. That's some democracy we're constructing over there.

BTW, when Iran shoots down one of our spy blimps (say, next week or so), all bets are off.

[Gloria]

3. Gee, let's not let the topvoter get the seat....sounds like a typical

Presidential election right here in the USA!!


"...is the possibility of adding some of the top vote-getters among the Sunni candidates to the 275-member legislature, even if they lose to non-Sunni candidates."

[bemildred]

4. I know, if they tell us to fuck off with our "election",

we'll just appoint some people we like and pretend they were elected.

[Moderator]

5. duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1098261