Iraqi parliament approves federal law

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO145418.htm

Iraqi parliament approves federal law

BAGHDAD, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament on Wednesday approved a law that sets out the mechanics of forming federal regions, an issue Sunni minority leaders fear might tear the country apart in sectarian civil war.

The law, backed by some Shi'ite majority leaders who have been keen to set up a big, autonomous region in their oil-rich south, was passed in a session boycotted by the Accordance Front, the largest political bloc of the Sunni minority.

Hostility between rival communities over federalism -- one of post-war Iraq's most sensitive issues -- is threatening the ability of the four-month-old national unity government to rein in mounting sectarian and ethnic violence.

...

The biggest Shi'ite party, SCIRI, proposes merging nine of Iraq's 18 provinces into one autonomous region in the Shi'ite south. Sunnis, dominant under Saddam Hussein, want amendments to the constitution to guarantee the sharing of oil revenues.

[flamingyouth]

1. k

[cal04]

2. Parliament Approves Measure Allowing Autonomous Regions(Iraq)

Parliament on Wednesday approved a controversial law that will allow Iraq to be carved into a federation of autonomous regions, after Sunni Arabs and some Shiite Muslims stormed out of the session in protest.

The bill passed the 275-member parliament by a vote of 141 to 0, despite a nearly successful attempt by opponents to prevent a quorum by walking out, said Mohanned Abdul Jabbar, an aide to parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.

The measure, introduced by a powerful Shiite group last month, creates a mechanism that many believe will lead to a predominantly Shiite zone in southern Iraq that would parallel the semiautonomous Kurdish region in the north. Sunnis vehemently oppose such a division, which would leave them with an area in central Iraq that lacks the vast oil wealth of the north and south.

Under a compromise worked out two weeks ago, the bill includes a provision that prevents the formation of federal regions for 18 months. In exchange for that delay and the creation of a panel to review the constitution, the Sunnis agreed to call off a boycott that had prevented the federalism bill from being introduced.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101100809.html

[wholetruth00]

3. Well, it's down hill from here. IMHO.

[LynnTheDem]

10. You got that right.

Downhill and fast.

[saigon68]

13. A few more bodies will appear in Baghdad

"FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH"
(In the form of thousands of new bound, gagged and beheaded corpses)

[patrick t. cakes]

4. now we can really

get this civil war underway.

[LynnTheDem]

11. And the ethnic cleansing.

After all, Sunnis are married to Shia; Shia are married to Sunnis; Kurds are married to Sunnis and Shia; and there are no areas in Iraq that are only one or another ethnicity.

Almost every tribe in Iraq has Sunni AND Shia branches.

"Civil war" is going to be somewhat of an understatement.

[Kagemusha]

5. Ah, first I've read of an 18 month delay...

Now, I wonder if that will actually be respected at all... or if they'll start the regions in 18 days, not months...

[pinto]

6. Bet Jim Baker comes to the rescue and parlays a partition,

based on this vote, that gets the Sunni's some oil rights and oil revenue.

If so, I'd guess we'd pull back our military to Oz - our Green Zone - for the transition period to partition, if not longer, redeploy some troops to Kuwait/Qatar, and take our 10% of revenues across the board, of course.

Meanwhile, it's their civil war.

Then, we'll suddenly find the UN a key ally to maintaining the fragile status quo.

Mission accomplished.

Spreading Democracy is hard work, 'till you have an old hand play maker to pull your rhetoric, misjudgments and short sighted assumptions out of the fire.

One benefit of it all, though, our troops would be out of the way and no longer called on to maintain this sham with their lives.

Don't know if this would be an ethical resolution, after all that's happened, but it may be a realistic one in this Administration's mind set.

Obviously speculation on my part, but Jim Baker is on the scene for a very specific reason. I'm sure of that.

(aside, on edit) The November elections may very well provide us another set of alternatives, at least legislatively. Oversight and funding are one way we can change the course in Iraq before the Presidential election in '08.

[IndianaGreen]

7. They just voted for civil war

with many unintended consequences, such as emboldening the Kurds to declare independence and forcing Turkey's intervention. This is not going to end well!

[daleo]

8. Bush will promise to protect the two oil-bearing zones

For "a piece of the action".

[Charlie Brown]

9. Remember "The Commonwealth of Independent States" after the USSR broke up?

Neither does anyone else. This cannot be good for Iraq.

[sutz12]

12. Show of hands, now....who's really suprised?

IMO, the surprise is that it took them so long. Gee, I wonder which "autonomous regions" our new bases are in?