Sunnis Boycott, Iraqi Parliament 140-0 Splits Iraq Into 3 "Regions" TODAY

Dems Will Win

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Wed Oct-11-06 07:15 PM
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Sunnis Boycott, Iraqi Parliament 140-0 Splits Iraq Into 3 "Regions" TODAY

Edited on Wed Oct-11-06 07:49 PM by Dems Will Win

"No More Mr. Nice Guy" -- Camp Falcon Ammo Dump Burns After Sunni Militia Mortar It

A White House aide recently said off-the-record that if Iraq's government ever officially voted to divide Iraq into three, that would be the point at which even the White House would certainly withdraw the troops, as an all-out civil war would then be imminent--with our 140,000 troops caught in the crossfire.

That occured today. With all the Sunni members and allies boycotting in the 275-seat Iraqi Parliament, a measure that defines the mechanics for splitting Iraq into three autonomous regions passed unanimously 140-0.

I've got a bad feeling about this...

Iraqi Parliament approves law to form federal region

Compiled by Daily Star staff
Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Iraqi Parliament on Wednesday approved a law that sets out the mechanics of forming federal regions, an issue the Sunni minority and some Shiites leaders and fear might tear the country apart in sectarian civil war. On the ground, militiamen firing mortars overnight detonated a US ammunition dump in Baghdad, sparking a barrage of explosions that continued to shake the capital on Wednesday morning.

The largest Sunni coalition in Parliament and two Shiite parties tried to prevent a vote on a bill by boycotting Wednesday's session to prevent the 275-seat body from reaching the necessary 50 percent quorum.

But the quorum was reached with 140 lawmakers, who voted on each of the bill's some 200 articles individually, passing them all unanimously.

The law includes a provision that regions cannot be formed for another 18 months, a concession to Sunni concerns.

The federalism law sets up a system for allowing provinces to join together into autonomous regions that would hold considerable self-rule powers, a right given to them under the Constitution adopted last year in a national referendum.

Sunnis fear a federal Iraq would hand northern and southern oilfields to ethnic Kurds and Shiites respectively, and would leave them trapped in a poor, desert rump state in central and western Iraq.

Legislators loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the smaller Shiite Fadhila Party stayed away from Wednesday's vote, showing Shiite support for federalism is not unanimous.

"This is the beginning of the plan to divide Iraq," said Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the Sunni National Accordance Front, which boycotted the vote.

"We had hoped that the problems of sectarian violence be resolved. We hope there won't be an increase in violence," he said.

The head of the Shiite coalition that dominates Parliament, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, praised passage of the bill and denounced Sunni opposition to federalism. He said the law would be a "factor of unity in the face of the enemies of Iraq - Baathists, Saddamists, criminals and Takfiris ... who rejected federalism, just like before, when they rejected the Constitution."

The law outlines a process for forming regions, requiring any province considering joining a region to hold a referendum, if a third of the provincial legislators request it.

Meanwhile, a mortar round fired from the Abu Dsheer area of southern Baghdad caused a fire in an ammunition holding area in Camp Falcon, a forward operating base for US troops, a US military spokesman said.

"Intelligence indicates that civilians aligned with a militia organization were responsible for last night's mortar attack," said Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Withington.

Residents of Abu Dsheer, a mostly Shiite area in the Sunni district of Dora, told Reuters that the Mehdi Army militia of Sadr was a growing presence in the area.

The Islamic Army in Iraq, one of a number of Sunni militant groups operating in the country, had earlier claimed responsibility for the attack in a Web site posting.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=76092

Please note that the Sunnis boycotted and while they were gone, the radical Shia passed 200 articles of law defining exactly how the federal regions would be set up. Everyone knows the result: three states--but only the Shia and the Kurds will have any oil!!

Add this to the Kurds flying their own flag, the Basra City Council defying their dissolution by al-Maliki, the retreat of the British from all southern Iraqi cities, 776 US wounded in September (never mind the dead), the new more potent IEDs from Iran, the 30% of the oil sold that is smuggled and the fact that US troops could soon be fighting 700,000 well-armed Shiite Hizbollah-lovers--our troops are suddenly in grave danger AND MUST BE WITHDRAWN IMMEDIATELY.

The fighting will now become a true civil war--a fight for Baghdad and the big central cities. Don't forget al-Sadr who is an extremist--he controls around 200,000 of the 700,000.

That is the new reality and it flies in the face of the neo-con fantasy about things getting better in Iraq.

The ridiculous of this story is that the US press never reported this today! Where was CNN breathlessly awaiting the Iraqi vote that would determine the future of our troops' lives, NOWHERE!

This vote was a long time coming, and none of the US media has reported it yet. AND BUSH LET THEM DO IT DELIBERATELY, for he wants three weaker states in civil war--the better to keep the oil in the ground and prevent the price from dropping.

It takes a blogger on DU to be the first with the scoop. This is another example of why corporations cannot be trusted to own news outlets, a practice that must somehow be ended if our Republic is to survive.

Please remember to RECOMMEND if you think this story is important enough for the US press to cover and report on.