Sunni clerics want troops withdrawal timetable for drafting constitution

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2005/February/focusoniraq_February43.xml§ion=focusoniraq

BAGHDAD - Iraq’s leading Sunni religious authority on Saturday made its participation in the upcoming constitution-drafting process conditional on the announcement of a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops.

The Committee of Muslim Scholars’ spokesman, Omar Ragheb, was speaking to the press after its chairman Hareth al-Dari met US Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi.

“Qazi asked the Committee to take part in drafting the constitution. We told him that we had conditions and that we would discuss them with the parties that boycotted the polls and would put forward a common stance,” he said.

“These demands focus on reaching a consensus with all political parties on a withdrawal of foreign forces,” Ragheb said.

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[MaineDem]

1. And so it begins... (nt)

[w4rma]

2. Good! I hope the Sunnis are successful in getting this wish.

Seeing as how the corporate media appears to be ignoring them on this, I think that they probably won't be getting it any time soon, however.

[rainbow4321]

4. Soooo...are we really killing Sunni leader's relatives?????

Saw this the other day...just enough to make you go hmmmmmm....



http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=54ed55cdeb8fa7e8&cat=187cf2a69985adcf


BAGHDAD, Feb 3 (AFP) - The nephew of the head of an influential Sunni Muslim clerics' association was shot dead by US soldiers Thursday on a road west of the Iraqi capital, a spokesman for the group said.

The US military said it unaware of the incident but would investigate.

"The US army opened fire and killed the nephew of Sheikh Hareth al-Dhari, who was driving in a car with a friend Thursday morning on a flyover," said Omar Ragheb, a spokesman for the Committee of Muslim Scholars.

"Mahmoud Mudhar al-Dhari, 40, was coming from Khandari to Baghdad ... when his car was shot up. His friend is safe and in good health."

[sellitman]

3. This will happen when....

[Javaman]

5. This is the first real move towards civil war...

So if we don't provide a time table to pull out, then what? The Sunni's go home and sulk? I think not.

The constitution will get writen and ratified by the Shi'ites and the Sunni will be left out.

[Igel]

6. No can do.

If Sunni Kurds and Arab Shi'a write it and the Sunni Arabs don't like it it won't be ratified. Three provinces vetoing it can nuke the constitution. Then they revote for another constitutional assembly.

[Javaman]

7. You are looking at it from at rational point of view...

You have to look at it from their point of view, the loss of control.

[Igel]

8. They certainly have lost control. And they ain't happy.

No question. Gotta love Salafi supremacists.

Hanafi Arab concepts of honor, dishonor, and when each is allowed or to be avoided at all costs are things I can't quite get my mind around.

At least the Hanafi ulema have mostly figured out one lesson from Vietnam and N. Ireland. Have a political/religious group and a paramilitary group. Pretend there are no links. And play the two off to maximize influence and in-country power and out-of-country prestige.

[Javaman]

10. Very insightful.

[ckramer]

12. And then the civil war

[wesrose]

9. We need Wes Clark!

*sigh*

[ckramer]

11. Headache! Headache!