Three Sunni MPs quit Iraqi alliance

[CHIMO]

Three key Sunni Arab lawmakers have resigned from the dominant United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), Aljazeera has learned.

The three, Fawaz al-Jarba, Mudhar Shawkat and Abd al-Rahman al-Niaimi, announced their resignation on Tuesday from the UIA which is led by Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim.

The three MPs said they were resigning in protest against the attempt to marginalise Sunni Arabs. They also expressed resentment against what they called foreign interference in ministry-making decisions, reported Aljazeera.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/096AED13-6F92-49CA-A705-38F4ED619CEE.htm

[PurityOfEssence]

1. Hmmm...that's not good

Junior's Midas touch lives on.

[Barrett808]

2. I thought Sunnis were getting the Defense Ministry

Of course, this just demonstrates the folly of handing out appointments along ethnic lines.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. This whole exercise was doomed before it began.

The stupidity of believing that bush was capable of setting the democratic wheels in motion in the middle east is beyond absurd. We haven't even seen the beginning of the bloodshed.

[Roland99]

4. Foreign interference? Would that be from the "multi-national farce"?

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. 3 seats is exactly the number required to make the UIA a minority

They won 140 out of 275 seats in the election; 137 seats is just under 50%. That means that the UIA has to rely on votes from other parties even if they can form a government.